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To hear Tom Brady tell it, his finger injury is nothing to worry about.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback discussed his injury on his Let’s Go! podcast (h/t Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk) and said “it’s doing a lot better” and didn’t impact him during Sunday’s 14-12 loss to the Green Bay Packers:
“No, it didn’t affect it at all. It’s doing a lot better than last week. I mean, it was a pretty good swollen finger, but it’s just part of the game, and I think there’s a lot of bumps and bruises for guys across the league. If it was my left finger it would be totally insignificant. It was my right finger, so just deal with it a little bit. But in the end it really did nothing. I practiced all week. I took every rep in practice and didn’t bother me at all in the game.”
Of more concern for the Buccaneers in the loss was the wide receiver depth chart.
Mike Evans (suspension), Chris Godwin (hamstring) and Julio Jones (knee) were all out, and the wide receiver position became a real problem when Breshad Perriman and Russell Gage each lost fumbles to stop promising drives.
If either one had ended in a field goal, Tampa Bay may have escaped with a victory.
To Brady’s credit, he still managed to lead a 13-play, 89-yard touchdown drive in the game’s final minutes while dealing with the lack of weapons and finger situation. The score cut the deficit to two, but Tampa Bay missed the ensuing two-point conversion after it took a delay of game penalty.
Next up for the Buccaneers is a showdown with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Evans will be back from his suspension, and head coach Todd Bowles told reporters he also expects Jones to return. That is welcome news for Brady, who will have better options to throw to even if Godwin doesn’t take the field.
And it seems like his finger won’t be an issue when he is throwing to those receivers.