At the point in the season you get use to seeing the same faces every day when you come to the Advent Health Training Center at One Buc Place. However, for the Buccaneers, that wasn’t the case this week — and that wasn’t all from good news.

The Bucs made a number of moves following injuries and releases this week, many coming on the defensive side of the ball.

Bucs defensive coordinator Mark Duffner was the first to speak at the podium on Wednesday.

Duffner said the defense is getting better, and holding Washington to 16 points and under 300 total yards was a step in the right direction, but noted that was all it was, and that there is still a lot of work to do.

Duffner said that consistency isn’t just about quarter-to-quarter but also game-to-game. They get to prove just how consistent they might be this week.

The Bucs have already lost linebacker Kwon Alexander for the year due to a torn ACL, and now it is being reported that Lavonte David has a sprained MCL.

David was not at practice on Wednesday, so it appears his availability for Sunday’s game truly is in jeopardy. In response, the team re-signed Kevin Minter, who had a short stint with them earlier this year. Winston joins Adarius Taylor, Devante Bond and Riley Bullough in the linebacker rotation. Kendell Beckwith is practicing, but has not yet been activated.

Back in the locker room, we got a chance to talk to the Bucs new kicker Cairo Santos.

Santos was with the Kansas City Chiefs for a while, and after getting hurt has bounced around the league from camps and tryouts. He was last with the Los Angeles Rams earlier this season.

Santos was asked if he was aware of the long list of kickers the Bucs have had since 2009 (the most in the league). He said he wasn’t aware of how lengthy the list was and even laughed a little when he was asked if there’s a curse on this franchise and the kicking game.

Santos said he doesn’t believe in that. He said he’s just ready to do his job, knock the first couple through and get some momentum going for himself and this team the rest of the season.

Bucs defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will be going up against his old team the New York Giants this week. Pierre-Paul said he doesn’t have anything bad to say about the organization. He said he respects that franchise and the players there, but you could tell this week holds a little extra for him.

“I’m pretty sure they know I’m going to bring the house.”

When asked about the moral in the locker room, Pierre-Paul said all he can do is step his game up and hope the other players behind him follow his lead. He said that “at times like these, man, your mind can wander.” Bu JPP noted that that’s when you have to stay even more focused, because slipping now means a lot of losing is on the way — and he’s not down for that.

After practice Koetter was asked about his team’s kicking curse — did we say curse?

Koetter said they do all kinds of research on the numbers of what might make it difficult to kick in Raymond James, but whatever it is, he said he was “embarrassed” at where they rank with kicking at home over the last few years.

On some positive news, Koetter did say that the team has until next week to decide whether or not to activate linebacker Kendell Beckwith, and that signs are pointing towards him being ready.

We’ll be back tomorrow for another jam-packed day at One Buc.