It was all smiles for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 33-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. The Bucs' offense found the end zone on three of its first four drives, and the defense - aside from a ten-minute lapse in the game's middle quarters - was relentless, generating 6 sacks and 7 tackles for loss.
Well, it actually wasn't all smiles. Far from it for an exciting young Tampa Bay defender. LB SirVocea Dennis left the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter and did not return.
As it turns out, he might not be back on the field with the team for a while. Head coach Todd Bowles had a candid comment on Monday during his press conference that indicates the young defender could be on the shelf for a bit.
"SirVocea [Dennis] got pretty nicked up with his shoulder. Other than that, Trey [Palmer] and everybody else are just nicked up but they should be okay.
"I think he hurt it pretty bad. We're going to see how bad."
Bowles didn't offer any insight on the severity or a timetable. However, if Bowles says a player hurt something pretty bad, then he likely did suffer a significant injury. As such, one has to wonder if a trip to the injured reserve list is on tap for Dennis.
It's unfortunate for both him and the team. Dennis was playing at a very high level early in the season, looking better than fellow inside linebacker K.J. Britt at times. Now, Bowles and Jason Licht are going to have to figure out how they're going to address his absence if he's to miss significant time.
Dennis joins a growing list of Buccaneer defenders to miss time this young season due to injury. S Antoine Winfield, Jr., DL Vita Vea, and DL Calijah Kancey have all missed time, although Vea managed to return on Sunday against Philadelphia.
It sounds as though Bucs fans shouldn't count on seeing #8 on the field for the Bucs soon.
