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Bucs Place Cox, Johnson On Injured Reserve

The Bucs may have to sign another punter to finish the season due to Dirk Johnson's hamstring injury (photo by Getty Images)

The Bucs may have to sign another punter to finish the season due to Dirk Johnson's hamstring injury (photo by Getty Images)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a few roster moves Monday, placing cornerback Torrie Cox and punter Dirk Johnson on injured reserve. The Bucs have promoted practice squad CB Brandon Anderson to the active roster and likely will sign a punter this week.



 
Tampa Bay had injury added to insult after its 20-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Several Bucs players were injured during Tampa Bay's 10th loss of the year. Wide receiver Michael Clayton (knee), cornerback Aqib Talib (hamstring) and defensive end Stylez G. White (hand) are considered day-to-day with their ailments.

However, the news isn't as encouraging for Bucs cornerback Torrie Cox (hip) and punter Dirk Johnson (hamstring), who were placed on injured reserve Monday.

Johnson injured his non-kicking leg while attempting a fake punt in the second half of the game vs. Atlanta.

"When I was running and tried to plant, it popped," Johnson said of his torn hamstring.

Johnson is the second Bucs punter to go on injured reserve this year. Josh Bidwell was placed on IR before the season started and has since undergone hip surgery. Johnson was averaging 41.3 yards per punt and had pinned 13 of his 62 attempts inside the 20-yard line.

The Bucs called on kicker Connor Barth to handle punting duties after Johnson sustained the injury, but will not be asked to handle those duties over Tampa Bay's final five games of the 2009 regular season.

"No, that was just a one-time thing," said Barth.

The Bucs plan to work out punters and likely will sign one by Wednesday. Not only does Tampa Bay need to sign a punter, it needs a new holder on field goal attempts since Johnson handled those duties as well.

The candidates to hold on field goal attempts include Bucs wide receiver Brian Clark and quarterback Josh Johnson, among others.

 "Those are all thoughts you're talking about this morning," said Bucs head coach Raheem Morris. "We have to bring in a punter. That's obvious. You have to see if he can hold see if Connor is comfortable with him. We've got some guys that have holding experience on this team. The holder has to have great hands, so you think about [tight end] Kellen Winslow possibly. We'll figure that out this week."

Cox notched 17 special teams tackles in 11 games and started to see significant action at nickel cornerback over the past few games. The Bucs filled his roster spot by promoting practice squad CB Brandon Anderson, who was signed to the taxi squad on Sept. 15, to the 53-man active roster.



 

Comments

gobucsgo

Johnson punting has left a lot to be desired. His distance and hang time are both poor. He has been with five different teams so that may tell you something.
Since punters hang around longer than most positions, if the Bucs have the money (Ha Ha) maybe they can do better.

11:56am, November 30, 2009

1bucfanjeff

Good punters are slim pickings...

11:57am, November 30, 2009

tyork

Were 1-10... go for it on every 4th down! Punting is for sissys!! :-)

12:19pm, November 30, 2009

dr_feel


1bucfanjeff says "Good punters are slim pickings..."

Lucky for us, we only have to replace a mediocre punter, which are a dime a dozen.

12:52pm, November 30, 2009

irisht53

Double Duty for Barth the rest of the season, why waste more money on a punter?

12:53pm, November 30, 2009

1bucfanjeff

dr_feel....LMAO - True.

1:12pm, November 30, 2009

pinkstob

How did we manage to put two punters on IR in one season? Is that some kind of record?

1:47pm, November 30, 2009

JDouble

Why are punters such lazy couch potatoe pussies? I swear if they have to run 5 feet, try to make a tackle, or accidently bump into the coffe table at home they go on IR. Why can't kickers/punters just take thier job seriously and be good shape overall? It's like they think all they need is thier kicking leg cause they won't ever have to grab a fumble or make a tackle. We need to find a kicker that is built like Brian Urlacher!

2:07pm, November 30, 2009

JDouble

Jake Delholme is out with a broken hand. Matt Moore will be the QB for the Panthers next week. I don't think this changes anything. Delholme has been horrible and they are just going to run the ball anyways.

2:20pm, November 30, 2009

alldayfootballdotcom

Bucs need to track down A.J. Trapasso. He was the back-up Punter fot the Tennessee Titans this preseason. He spent a little bit of time on the Bucs practice squad as well. He was the punter who was booming punts into the giant Video screen at the new Dallas Stadium.

2:22pm, November 30, 2009

FilmBuc

Jdouble,

Haha! I just read that about Delholme. A little ironic that he gets a broken hand when he's about to get benched for the season.

Call me an optimist, but I can really see the bucs having a chance to win each of their next 3 games.

3:59pm, November 30, 2009

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