FAB 5. SR’s BUC SHOTS
• The Buccaneers have until Monday to make a decision on wide receiver Louis Murphy. That’s when his three-week evaluation window expires coming off the PUP (physically unable to perform) list as he recovers from last year’s torn ACL injury. On Monday the Bucs will either have to move him to the active roster, which will mean cutting another player, release him or place him on injured reserve.

Murphy returned to practice a few weeks ago, but he suffered a setback when he sustained another unknown injury that is not related to his ACL. Unless he has made significant progress over the last week behind the scenes, the guess here is that Murphy will be placed on injured reserve or released with an injury settlement and then re-signed at a later date.

Raiders QB Derek Carr – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

• Do you remember when PewterReport.com forecasted a quarterback to the Buccaneers in its 2014 Bucs’ 7-Round Mock Drafts? No, it wasn’t Johnny Manziel, as some other Bucs websites had called for.

To our knowledge, PewterReport.com was the only Bucs-related media outlet to have QB Derek Carr in its mock drafts to Tampa Bay. We put him in our first mock draft in January of 2014, as well as our final mock.

Not Manziel. Not Blake Bortles. Not Teddy Bridgewater. Carr – the same guy who passed for 513 yards and four touchdowns in a 30-24 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday. And we took some heat for it from Bucs fans and media counterparts back in 2014.

It turns out that Carr didn’t get drafted in the first round. Instead, he was selected by Oakland in the second round with the 36th overall pick – right in front of Tampa Bay. In two and a half seasons in the NFL, Carr has thrown for 9,578 yards with 70 touchdowns and just 28 interceptions.

This year he’s on a Pro Bowl level, completing 66.3 percent of his apsses for 2,321 yards with 17 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Oh, what could have been, Jason Licht.

• Although LSU is mostly known as “DB U” for producing a high number of NFL-caliber cornerbacks and safeties over the years, the school is also gaining reputation for producing several NFL-caliber linebackers, too. Last year, the Bucs grabbed star linebacker Kwon Alexander from the Tigers in the fourth round. Alexander’s replacement in 2015, Deion Jones, is a starting linebacker in Atlanta after the Falcons made him their second-round pick this year.

“Kwon Alexander gave way to Deion Jones, but before Kwon the starting Mike ‘backer for us was Kevin Minter, and he’s starting in Arizona,” said Bucs receiver Russell Shepard, a product of LSU. “Before Minter we had Kelvin Sheppard, and he starts for the Giants. Before Sheppard we had Perry Riley, and he’s started the last four years for the Redskins and now he’s starting for the Raiders. That’s one of the positions that has really developed at LSU.”

Bucs CB Vernon Hargreaves and Falcons WR Julio Jones – Photo by: Getty Images

• Kudos to Tampa Bay Times columnist Tom Jones for his excellent piece, Thursday Night Football Must End. Jones writes that part of the reason why the NFL ratings are down is due to the oversaturation of the product with games all day Sunday, Sunday night, Monday night and now on Thursday night.
Jones writes:

“It’s just too much football. We never used to have Thursday Night Football, and we got along just fine. Now it’s all football, all the time.”

He’s right, and the NFL knows it, which is why they have to come up with gimmicks like Color Rush uniforms to make people want to watch unbearable games like Jacksonville-Tennessee out of curiosity.

Jones hits the nail on the head when talking about what Thursday night games do to teams from a physical and mental standpoint with just four days to prepare. The Bucs looked like they ran out of gas at halftime, especially on defense, trailing 20-14. The Falcons outscored the Bucs 13-0 in the third quarter and took control of the game at that point.

“In addition, the human body, even one as conditioned as a National Football League player’s, isn’t equipped to play two football games in five days. There isn’t enough to time to prepare physically, emotionally and mentally. No wonder the games are sloppy. So, you get bad teams with beat-up players.”