The Bucs were quite busy at One Buccaneer Place Tuesday, but Thanksgiving Day plans weren't the top priority.

Tampa Bay was busy tweaking its 53-man roster, signing quarterback Rudy Carpenter and wide receiver Terrence Nunn from practice squads in Dallas and New England, respectively, to the Bucs' active roster.

Veteran quarterback Byron Leftwich, who has been listed on the team's injury report for several weeks with a elbow ailment, was put on injured reserve ending his season.

Leftwich, 29, started three games for the Bucs, completing 54.2 percent of his passes for 594 yards while tossing four touchdowns and three interceptions before being benched for second-year QB Josh Johnson in Week 4.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Carpenter originally entered the NFL in April as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State.

Carpenter completed 61 percent of his passes for 10,491 yards and tossed 81 touchdowns and 35 interceptions at the collegiate level. He has been a member of Dallas' practice squad since September.

The addition of Carpenter gives the Bucs threequarterbacks - Josh Freeman, Josh Johnson and Carpenter -- on their active roster.

"The Byron Leftwich decision was just made yesterday," said Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson. "After he met with the doctors; he's had trouble with the arm and hasn't been able to throw here lately, and he didn't feel like it had sufficiently healed this week, so the decision was made to put him on injured reserve.

"Rudy was someone we evaluated during the draft process. We had a chance to watch him in the preseason. We felt good about him coming out of Arizona State. I coached with a number of coaches on that Arizona State staff, so I did some background work on him. [Dallas QB] Jon Kitna is a quarterback I have a long relationship with and I spoke with Jon. I hear good things about him in terms of his preparation, his work ethic and him as a person."

Nunn (6-0, 190) caught 136 passes for 1,762 yards and 11 touchdowns at Nebraska. He originally entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and has been with the Patriots since May. Nunn is also an experienced return specialist.

To make room for Nunn, the Bucs cut cornerback Mike Mickens.

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