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Bucs' Evans will miss 2-4 weeks with groin strain

 
Mike Evans has four catches and a TD against Troy Polamalu and the Steelers secondary until leaving with a groin injury.
Mike Evans has four catches and a TD against Troy Polamalu and the Steelers secondary until leaving with a groin injury.
Published Sept. 30, 2014

TAMPA — The best game of Mike Evans' young NFL career may be his last for a few weeks.

The Bucs' first-round pick, who had four catches for 65 yards, including his first career touchdown Sunday, will miss 2-4 weeks with a groin strain he suffered late in the third quarter, according to multiple reports Monday.

Evans pulled up running a deep route in the third quarter of Sunday's 27-24 win over the Steelers. The pass resulted in an easy interception for CB Cortez Allen.

"Mike Evans played well, made big plays," coach Lovie Smith said Monday. "But losing him in that period of the game didn't help our cast any at all, either."

Smith doesn't give updates on injuries until Wednesday when they must be reported to the league. S Dashon Goldson suffered an ankle injury in the first half Sunday and didn't return. He was replaced by veteran Major Wright.

"Injuries. You're never excited about injuries," Smith said. "Dashon Goldson going down early on made us adjust a little bit with him. We'll have to — we don't know exactly — he's day to day. We don't know how long it will take for him to get back."

RUSH HOUR COMES: The Bucs sacked Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger five times in the first half Sunday, including two by DE Michael Johnson. DT Gerald McCoy, who missed a 56-14 loss to Atlanta on Sept. 18 with a broken left hand, got things rolling on the first series with his sack on second down. On the next snap, Johnson sacked Big Ben, stripping the ball, and DE Jacquies Smith recovered.

"When your best football player plays, it definitely does pick everything up," Lovie Smith said. "We all get a lot more confidence when Gerald is playing and he played well. With the cast he had to adjust his game a little bit, but he adjusted it and he played well."

Johnson has been battling a sprained ankle and aggravated it early in Sunday's game.

"What we brought here to do: rush the passer," Smith said of Johnson. "But not just rush the passer, play the run. You look at just about every one of his plays. As I look at a player, every time you get an opportunity to strip the football, we want you going for the ball. Michael is doing that for the most part. I just liked his overall play. He tweaked his ankle a little bit early. Got rolled up again. Wasn't lucky with that, but shook it off, came back in. We'll need play like that from Michael throughout."

GETTING CLOCKED: The Bucs had trouble getting offensive plays in on time Sunday. Part of the problem was that the communication device in QB Mike Glennon's helmet went out. But they also had back-to-back delay of game penalties in the second half as the play came in late.

"We just didn't handle some situations as well as we needed to, the clock snuck up on us a few times and we have to clean that up," Smith said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Mike, we needed this a lot more than you did." — Smith to Steelers coach Mike Tomlin after Sunday's game.