On Thursday, we learned a little more about what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look like on Sunday – and a hint of what it will look like a week from today, too.

Here were the five things we learned from Thursday.

Injury Update

Thursday’s injury report for both the Giants and the Buccaneers read a lot like the previous day.

For Tampa, the big names were still out. Alexander and David were not on the sidelines or even seen in the locker room. Ward was in the locker room with the players, but didn’t practice due to his hip.

On the flip side, offensive guard J.R. Sweezy said he’s good to go and just needed an extra day to rest his back. He told the media he didn’t re-aggravate anything, just wanted an extra day for it to feel its best.

Monken Talks Run Game

It’s no secret: The Bucs run game sucked on Sunday.

Whether it was when they ran the ball or when they didn’t, it was not a balanced enough gameplan to be effective or a threat.

Bucs offensive coordinator Todd Monken is a pretty straight shooter. He’ll often answer questions the way he sees them rather than dance around an answer. When asked about his run game last week, he sarcastically chuckled and said that it certainly needs to be better.

He also added to the running narrative that the game just got away from them very quickly and they weren’t able to recover. That’s why things like the lack of total carries or lack of action for Peyton Barber occurred.

He ended by said they plan to be much more controlled with the ball, time of possession and with the run game at home on Sunday.

Winston And Possible “Consequences”

The biggest takeaway you’re going to read form Winston taking the podium this morning is him using the word “consequences” when talking about his turnovers.

Here’s the full context of that.

Winston was talking with his dad about his turnovers and his dad told him that eventually, if he can’t get it fixed, there will come a time where they can’t trust him as much as he may want them to. He said it in a way to motivate his son.

Those words did not come from anyone on the Bucs’ coaching staff. Winston isn’t getting the ball taken out of his hands. They know he needs to cut down on the turnovers, but they also know that this is part of the process of grooming a young quarterback.

The Bucs will win football games with the ball in Winston’s hands. Some games they’ll need it more than others. But, that ball isn’t going anywhere.

More balance? Sure.

A replacement? No.

Koetter Not Happy With Run Game

(Or Questions About It)

https://twitter.com/TBBuccaneers/status/913477743370579968

Three-fourths of the way into Koetter’s post-practice press conference, he was asked a question about the Bucs run game, or lack thereof.

Koetter wasn’t happy about it.

To his defense, he’s tired of people asking the same questions since Sunday about his team having a bad run game. In the defense of the question, the run game wasn’t good, and the media is there to ask about it.

You can watch it for yourself.