Losing to the Washington Redskins 24-22 on a last-second field goal Sunday was a particularly tough blow for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Now the team is hoping it doesn't absorb another, as veteran cornerback Eric Wright will be further evaluated after leaving early in the second half with what was described as a head injury.
"It's a head — we'll find out if it's the dreaded 'c' word (concussion), I'm not sure," head coach Greg Schiano said Monday afternoon in his weekly press conference.
Wright took a knee to his helmet from Washington left guard Kory Lichtensteiger and remained on the turf for several minutes before walking to the locker room.
The consolation for the Bucs Sunday was that E.J. Biggers, who had suffered a broken foot on the first day of training camp, was ready to step in for Wright and played well in his 2012 debut.
Still, losing Wright for any extended period would be another difficult turn for a team that just lost starting defensive end Adrian Clayborn to a knee injury against Dallas last week, and saw Pro Bowl offensive guard Davin Joseph go down for the year with a knee injury in the season opener.
The only fortunate circumstance is that they're heading into a bye week. That will allow players like 37-year-old safety Ronde Barber (who got banged up in the game) and perhaps Wright to rest up — and for Schiano and his coaching staff to take a hard look at what to tweak after a disappointing 1-3 start.
Schiano's overall assessment of Sunday's game: "Like I said last night, we missed too many tackles and made too many mental errors defensively. Later on, we played better but put ourselves in a hole. From a team-wide standpoint, we did things penalty-wise that we are just not us."
The Bucs came out flat, while Redskins rookie sensation Robert Griffin III led his team to a 21-6 halftime lead. But in the second half, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman overcame a sluggish start and engineered a comeback via the air that helped Tampa Bay take a short-lived 22-21 lead on Connor Barth's third field goal with 1:42 to play.
"Offensively, we threw the ball deep effectively in the second half," Schiano said. "Probably needed to take more shots in the first half. Running the football, we needed more plays to run the ball more, because it's not like we didn't run it effectively. I think we averaged like 4.4 yards per carry with a 20-yard run (by rookie Doug Martin) taken back on a hold penalty. But you just need more shots to do it. We've got to convert on third down — that gives you more plays."
Unfortunately, improved defensive play by the Bucs in the second half — effectively shutting down RGIII and the high-powered Skins offense — unraveled on Washington's final drive with a minute-plus to play. Griffin was able to hit passes of 15 and 20 yards on the first two plays of the drive, the latter completion to wide-open tight end Fred Davis in the middle of the field.
A 15-yard scramble followed against a seemingly helpless Bucs defense, setting the stage of Billy Cundiff's game-winning, 41-yard field goal with three seconds left — a kick that came after three misses that nearly cost the Redskins the game.
Looking at the damaging sequence, Schiano said it wasn't a case of calling the wrong plays to contain Griffin.
"(It's) not calls I wish we had back," he said. "We didn't execute the calls. Suffice it to say we made mistakes on two of those plays — critical …. It was a mix of cover and pressure. We didn't execute well on that last drive. But we executed very well in the second half."
Now they have an extra week to build on what worked — and try to fix what didn't — before hosting the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 14 in a 1 p.m. game at Raymond James Stadium. And if they're lucky, the bye will give Wright the time he needs to get healthy and back on the field.
