The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have lost their regular-season finale Sunday, but they’re focused on the task at hand now: Beating the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
Playing on Monday night will give the Bucs an extra day to get some of their key players healthy for the big matchup, and one name that Tampa Bay fans always want to know about is Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen.
Jensen suffered a serious knee injury on the second day of training camp, but returned to practice recently in an attempt to make a potential return in the postseason.
Will he be ready in time for Monday night?
“I’ll give you the same answer as last week: status quo,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles told the media Monday. “He’s working hard and we like to see him out there, but we’ll see.”
Bowles acknowledges that Jensen is running out of time before his 21-day practice window expires.
“The window is starting to close this week, so we’ll see where we’re at,” Bowles said.
Getting back one of the best offensive linemen in the league would obviously be a huge boost to Tom Brady and the entire offense, but the Bucs are clearly not willing to rush Jensen back before he’s ready, even if that means waiting until next season.
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