Page 25 - Florida Sentinel 12-13-19

Sports
Buccaneers Confident
Mike Evans To Miss Remainder Of The Season
MIKE EVANS
As noted earlier, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans went down late in the game during Sunday’s 38-35 win over the Indi- anapolis Colts with an appar- ent hamstring injury.
Coach Bruce Arians di- agnosed the injury immedi- ately following Sunday’s win as “not good” and continued the trend during Monday’s press conference. “He was a quick healer when he had it in the spring. I would be very doubtful for this week,” Ari- ans said in reference to Evans suffering the same in- jury during the offseason.
The Bucs do not expect their Pro Bowl receiver to re- turn to the field this season.
NFL Wants Quick Resolution With Latest Patriots Videotaping Allegations
The NFL is looking into al- legations that the New Eng- land Patriots illegally videotaped the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline on Sunday, and the league apparently does not want the investigation to drag out over a long period of time.
League officials are hoping for a resolution in what many are calling “Spygate 2” as early as this week.
One consideration when determining if there will be any disciplinary action is whether or not the footage that was obtained showed anything that could not be seen on TV or coaches’ tape from the game.
Fans Start Petition To
They're Headed In
Stop Michael Vick From
Right Direction;
Being Legends Captain
Face Lions Sunday
At 2020 Pro Bowl
Another season will end with Tampa Bay missing the playoffs, however the Bucca- neers remain confident they’re headed in the right di- rection.
Three straight victories, four in the past five games, and a growing belief that a young team is finally learning how to win.
“The resiliency of the team, the we’re not quitting, the fact that we are now mathematically eliminated from the playoffs is not going to change anything,” Coach Bruce Arians said Monday. “We’re going to come, we’re going to work. We’re going to try to win four in a row, five in a row, and then six in a row.”
The Bucs (6-7) haven’t made the playoffs since 2007 and haven’t won a postseason game since their Super Bowl run 17 years ago.
They’ve finished with a winning record twice during the hiatus — going 10-6 under Raheem Morris in 2010 and 9-7 in 2016, their first season under Dirk Koetter — though neither produced a playoff berth.
That would be the case again if the Bucs win the re- maining games at Detroit Sunday at 1 p.m. and home against Houston and Atlanta to wind up 9-7 in their first season under Arians, who
JAMEIS WINSTON
stressed there’s nothing like winning games to change the culture within a locker room.
“For us to possibly win four in a row, then five in a row against a real good Houston team, and it’s going to be a struggle in Detroit this week with the number of in- juries we’ve got, but that’s building blocks,” Arians said. “The culture is set be- cause guys ... don’t accept losing anymore.’’
The Bucs were eliminated from playoff contention de- spite rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat In- dianapolis 38-35 on Sunday. They overcame four turnovers, including a pair of interceptions and a fumble the Colts turned into 17 first- half points.
“In the locker room, we talked about the past. In the past, we would’ve lost that game,” quarterback Jameis Winston said.
A petition is circulating the internet in hopes of get- ting Michael Vick removed as one of the honorary cap- tains of this year's Pro Bowl, Philadelphia's local ABC affil- iate reports.
In November, the NFL an- nounced that Vick would be one of the four "Legends Cap- tains" at the 2020 Pro Bowl alongside Hall of Famers Terrell Davis, Darrell Green, and Bruce Smith. These players are set to serve as "mentors" for either side's offense or defense. While Vick's historic career makes him a worthy choice, a woman named Joanna Lind believes that he should- n't be given this role.
Another petition has emerged on Change.org call- ing for Michael Vick to not be removed as a Pro Bowl captain. "Michael Vick was an amazing player during his time in the NFL," the petition
MICHAEL VICK
reads. "He committed a crime. He paid his debt for that crime. His crime doesn't negate his records and his contribution to the teams he played for. The same people who will preach about for- giveness for injustices against human life will hold grudges in regards to animals. For- giveness is forgiveness."
At the time of writing, nearly 180,000 people have signed.
Shaq Barrett Is On
Verge Of Becoming
Bucs' Single-Season
Sack Leader
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed free agent linebacker Shaq Barrett to a one-year deal in the offsea- son, even they couldn’t have envisioned the type of season he’d have in 2019.
Through 14 weeks, Bar- rett leads the NFL with 15.0 sacks, throwing himself into the mix for Defensive Player of the Year honors. Even though he’s only signed through 2019, it’s clear that both Barrett and the Bucs would love to have him re- turn next year and beyond to help anchor this defense along with rookie superstar Devin White.
Not only has Barrett ex-
SHAQ BARRETT
ceeded expectations (and his contract), but he needs just two sacks in the final three games to surpass Hall of Famer and former Buccaneer Warren Sapp’s single-sea- son record of 16.5 sacks, set back in 2000.
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