The Falcons ruled out four players for Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, but cornerback A.J. Terrell was not one of them.
Terrell suffered a concussion in last Sunday’s win over the Jets and made it back to full practice participation on Friday. He’s considered questionable to play this weekend and his presence would be a plus for the Atlanta defense.
Linebacker Nate Landman (knee), defensive lineman LaCale London (knee), right tackle Kaleb McGary (knee), and defensive linemen David Onyemata (ankle) will not be playing for the Falcons this weekend.
Terrell is joined in the questionable group by two other cornerbacks — Jeff Okudah (ankle) and Mike Hughes (hand) — as well as wide receiver Mack Hollins (ankle) and center Drew Dalman (ankle).
The Buccaneers will be heading into Sunday’s divisional matchup with the Falcons without a couple of key defensive players.
Linebacker Devin White and cornerback Jamel Dean have been ruled out for this weekend. It’s the second straight game that White will miss with a foot injury and the third straight that Dean will sit out due to ankle and foot issues.
Two other defensive players carry questionable tags into the weekend. Linebacker K.J. Britt (back) was a full participant in practice the last two days, but defensive tackle Vita Vea (toe) did not practice at all this week.
In more positive injury news, linebacker Lavonte David is set to return after missing two games with a groin injury.
Whenever the Steelers hit a rough patch, a chunk of the team’s fanbase begins to clamor for a coaching change. Amid the team’s current struggles, featuring history-making home losses against a pair of two-win teams, the noise has returned.
And it’s perhaps louder than ever.
Would the Steelers move on from Mike Tomlin? With three coaches since 1969, it’s not their way. With Tomlin having no losing seasons in his first 16 years on the job, it’s inconceivable to believe the Steelers would push Tomlin out if they fail to make the playoffs and fail to finish at or above .500.
That doesn’t mean it’s not time for a change. The question becomes whether Tomlin might think it’s time to leave. He’s got one year left on his contract. He could finish it out and become a free agent; that’s something few NFL coaches ever do. He also could resign, sit out a year, and come back to a new team in 2025 (with compensation to Pittsburgh).
Or the Steelers could essentially trade Tomlin after the coming season.
At a time when there’s plenty of speculation as to whether another team might try to make a move to hire Patriots coach Bill Belichick (with or without compensation), why not call the Steelers regarding Tomlin?
Between the two coaches, Tomlin arguably would be more desirable. He’s 20 years younger, which means he’d have much longer potential tenure as the coach than Belichick.
And Tomlin has done very well. Sure, it’s been 15 years since his only Super Bowl win. Yeah, the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. Regardless, plenty of teams have done a lot worse than the Steelers over the past 17 years.
Continuous relevance, for owners, is far more important than a once-per-generation Super Bowl run. The teams that contend each and every year sell all of their tickets — and they see those tickets actually used. Which means more overpriced drinks, hot dogs, and other stuff being sold on game day. More prime-time games. And, as a result, a lot more money.
Look at the teams that could be looking for new coaches. Think of what Tomlin could do for the Commanders, the Chargers, the Bears, or the Buccaneers.
Again, this isn’t about whether the Steelers would fire him. This is about whether Tomlin would be ready and willing to move on. And it’s about whether the Steelers would make a reasonable request for compensation, given that Tomlin needs only to coach one more year before securing the ability to go wherever he chooses as the rarest of NFL commodities.
A head-coaching free agent.
Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin’s media availability on Thursday was focused on comments his wife made on social media this week.
Godwin’s wife Mariah said that Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was “blatantly lying” for saying Godwin’s lack of targets last week were due to the team subbing Godwin out a lot because he was questionable with a neck injury coming into the weekend. Godwin played 82 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in a 21-18 win over the Panthers and he said on Thursday that his wife’s intent was to show that he works his “ass off to make sure I’m ready to play” every week.
Godwin also said he didn’t feel “disrespected” by anything Bowles said and that he met with both Bowles and offensive coordinator Dave Canales this week. He said the conversations left him feeling like everyone is on the same page.
“I’ve never had any malice or like ill will to Dave or Coach Bowles or anybody,” Godwin said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I think I have a really good relationship with them. They’re all part of the team and I consider them to be like cool people to me. So now it’s how to move forward and make this the best that we can make it because we want to win, we want to go to the playoffs. . . . Nobody is beefing. We’re all great right now.”
Canales said Thursday that Godwin “is just magic with the ball” and that he put it on himself to do a better job of making sure they get the ball to the receiver against Atlanta this weekend and in the future.
The Buccaneers will play four more games regardless of the result of Sunday’s matchup with the Falcons, but the chances that those games are meaningful will go way down if they don’t win.
Atlanta is 6-6 and they’ve already beaten the Bucs this season, so another loss would make the path to a division title in Tampa a very difficult one. Those circumstances explain why right guard Cody Mauch said the team is adopting a playoff mentality as they prepare for their trip to Atlanta.
“We’re treating it like a playoff game, because, really, for us, it is,” Mauch said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “You’ve got to keep winning, especially these division games. That’s just kind of the mentality for us.”
That feeling comes from the top down. Head coach Todd Bowles said at his Wednesday press conference that “every game we play from here on out is a playoff game” and that this game is of particular importance.
“December football,” Bowles said. “It’s a round-robin tournament until the end. We understand the importance of this game. If we can win this one, the next game will be more important than that one. It’s the biggest game this week, it’s the only game this week. It’s a division rival. They’re one game ahead of us. We know we’ve got to try to catch up, they know they’ve got to keep a lead.”
The stakes are clear and we’ll find out soon enough if the Bucs are up to the task.
