Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

Through all the injuries and absent players, it might be easy to forget that Chris Godwin is making his second return from an injury this season. The Bucs’ star wide receiver came back from the torn ACL he suffered last December to start in Week 1, but unfortunately a hamstring injury forced him to miss the next two weeks.

During his return on Sunday Night Football in Week 4, Godwin made seven catches for 59 yards. That’s a solid start for a player who is coming back from a serious injury. So, is he all the way back? Maybe not quite yet, and it’ll take some time, he said.

“I think I’m getting there,” Godwin said. “It takes a little bit of time when you’re first coming back from one injury to kind of get your footing. I think as the weeks come and go, as I get some games under my belt, it’ll be closer to being back. I’m just fortunate to be able to do a full game. Obviously, it wasn’t the outcome that we were looking for, but it’s a long year, we got a lot of work to put in.”

Godwin had another injury scare late in the third quarter of the game. He was blocking on a run play at the goal line when he slipped and began writhing in pain. What initially was thought to be a hip injury turned out to be a back issue. Thankfully, he’ll be all right.

“My back just landed weird,” Godwin said. “Sometimes people like to lean a little bit and you slip, but it was fine. By the time I got to the sideline, it was fine. It was just like, got a little tight in my back, got to the sideline and it was fine.”

The former Pro Bowl receiver is known to be a physical player. He enjoys blocking on run plays and gets to the grimy areas as a receiver, especially in the slot. Is this a cause for concern given how the injuries of piled up for him? It’s better than asking him to play differently.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“To be honest, I don’t know any other way to play,” Godwin said. “I joke about it a lot, but that’s all I know. Go be physical and just give it my all. There’s no quit in me and I’m going to keep doing that until it’s time to hang them up. When that is, we’ll never know. I’m grateful to be back on the field, I think my absence from the game has given me a brand-new perspective on how much I appreciate it.

“There’s so much I love with the day-to-day process of being in the locker room with the guys and joking around and being able to work towards something each week and then getting to go out there and put the product on the field. Win, lose or draw, I’m grateful for the opportunity and I’m going to continue to do that, continue to be grateful and just out there and have fun doing what I love.”

Is Godwin And The Bucs Offense Back On Track?

Although the Bucs have lost back-to-back games, their 31 points in Week 4 were a team-best this season. They’re hoping it can spark them to regain the firepower that made them one of the highest-scoring teams in the league over the last few years.

“It very well could be,” Godwin said. “I think it’s tough when you’re trying to put together your offensive game plan whenever you don’t have everybody out there. Then you add on top of that we have a bunch of new faces. We got new receivers, new offensive linemen, it’s just tough.

“Like I said, it’s a long season and I think we’re going to be great. People tend to overreact early in the year, but I think the biggest thing for us is to continue to work and build throughout the season. That’s what we’ve done over the last couple of years, you know it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows early in the year. We just kind of slowly get better and better and better. You can’t just build chemistry in one day or one game. It’s going to take some time.”