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.
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