Tampa Bay didn’t come away unscathed in ending its two-game losing streak with a 26-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones II will have surgery on his broken pinkie finger on Tuesday according to Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud. Jones may miss a game, Stroud wrote, as wide receiver Chris Godwin did when he had a similar injury and procedure earlier in the season.
Jones injured the pinkie during the first half, The Athletic’s Greg Auman Tweeted.
This is correct. After leaping for TD just before halftime, Ronald Jones went to sidelines, took off his glove and looked at his left pinkie. McCoy took most of the initial drive to open the second half.
Jones returned to the game and finished with 80 yards rushing and a touchdown on 18 carries. He hit the 900-yard mark for the season against the Vikings.
In addition to having a strong season, the former USC back graded third-highest among the top backs in the past six years per Pro Football Focus College via Twitter.
Highest-graded RB seasons since 2014:
1. Javonte Williams (’20) – 94.1
2. Kareem Hunt (’16) – 93.2
3. Ronald Jones (’17) – 93.1
4. James Conner (’14) – 92.7
5. Jonathan Taylor (’18) – 92.2
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians first disclosed the injury on Monday according to Auman via Twitter.
Arians says Ronald Jones may have fractured a pinkie in Sunday’s win — he came back in and played, but that injury could impact things moving forward.
Jones’ status for Sunday at Atlanta remains up in the air according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine. She reported that “sources close to the situation said it is unclear at this point whether Jones will miss any time with the injury, with one saying they won’t know until later this week, but that he still has a chance to play.”
Backfield Options
Jones sidelined shouldn’t leave the Bucs (8-5) high and dry for the running game against the Atlanta Falcons (4-9) on Sunday.
The Bucs have options with LeSean McCoy, who had 32 yards rushing on four carries against the Vikings, Leonard Fournette, who had 50 or more yards in three different games earlier this season. Arians sat Fournette for the Vikings game, which drew speculation of Fournette’s status with the coach. Arians dismissed such notions.
“I love Leonard,” Arians said in the postgame press conference according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio. “I think he’s a heck of a kid and a great player. We just wanted to get Shady back involved. He’s fresh and he showed it today. He made it all pay off for me. I took the risk and he made it pay off. He made the best of his opportunity, but it’s nothing against Leonard.”
Stroud speculates that Arians will more likely go with Fournette as the feature back if Jones sits out at Atlanta.
Two New Suhs
Bucs defensive end Ndamukong Suh recently spread the word on Twitter that he and his wife, Katya, are expecting twins.
Ndamukong and Katya Suh expecting TWO. Congratulations!
People Magazine’s Benjamin VanHoose reported on the couple having twins.
Ndamukong has left a few opponents possibly seeing double, inadvertently hopefully, this season with 36 tackles and five sacks. He helped the Bucs stymie the Vikings offense in Week 14 with six tackles and one of the team’s six sacks.
Bucs LB up for Award
Lavonte David became one of eight semifinalists for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award on Tuesday according to Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times.
“You try to think about the man who is representing the organization, their teammates, and also what they are doing on the football field — the impact they are having,” said Warrick Dunn, an award panelist and former Bucs running back, according to Knight.
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Buccaneers Key Player to Have Surgery: Report