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Dig this: Bucs secondary finally nearing full strength

For the first time since opening night, the top three cornerbacks all appear game-ready.
 
Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis (24) and defensive lineman William Gholston (92) celebrate Davis’ third-quarter interception in the season opener against the Cowboys. Davis, who has missed the last seven games with a torn quad, is expected to play Sunday against the Falcons in Atlanta.
Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis (24) and defensive lineman William Gholston (92) celebrate Davis’ third-quarter interception in the season opener against the Cowboys. Davis, who has missed the last seven games with a torn quad, is expected to play Sunday against the Falcons in Atlanta. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]
Published Dec. 2, 2021|Updated Dec. 3, 2021

TAMPA — Having spent the season’s first three months in flux, they’re now intact, or close to it. The tweaked quads, dislocated elbows and bruised shoulders have been adequately rehabilitated.

Their youthful bravado appears close to full strength as well.

“I’m good to go right now,” proclaimed Bucs fourth-year cornerback Carlton Davis, expected to play Sunday against the Falcons after missing the last seven games with a torn quad. “Seventy-five plays.”

Just in time for the season’s home stretch, the “Grave Diggers” have been mostly resurrected.

“It will be fun,” Davis said. “I’ve missed those guys so much.”

Three weeks before Christmas, the Bucs’ cornerback rotation finally bears a strong resemblance to the one coaches envisioned at the season’s outset.

Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting, the starting cornerbacks on opening night, finally will be on the field together Sunday for the first time since that Sept. 9 win against the Cowboys. The original No. 3 guy, Jamel Dean, also should be available despite a shoulder bruise.

“It’s been tormenting, just watching (defensive backs) catch interceptions and make plays,” Davis said. “It sucks. It’s like I’m a kid in timeout watching everybody play on the playground. It’s like, ‘I want to go play, too. I want to have fun on the monkey bars.’ "

On the back end, the Bucs haven’t been quite as fortunate this week. Safety Jordan Whitehead has been limited in practice by a calf injury, and safety/nickel corner Mike Edwards has been suspended three games for violating COVID-19 protocols.

“Hopefully you get through the week and you get everybody back, and we’ll go from there,” defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said after Thursday’s practice. “Either way, we’re rolling a bunch of guys in case some people have to play. But if that happens, that would be good.”

For Bowles, the season to this point has been an adventure in rolling. And rotating. And wringing hands. Adversity has forced him to employ 10 different starting cornerback tandems — or trios, depending on the formation — in 11 games.

The injuries arrived early. Murphy-Bunting dislocated his elbow in the first quarter of the first game. Three games later, Davis tore his quad while going full speed on the punt-return unit against the Patriots. Dean missed the Patriots game with a knee injury.

Even 33-year-old Richard Sherman, who was signed when the cornerback situation was at its most dire, has been limited to three games due to various injuries. As a result, the No. 5 and 6 cornerbacks, Pierre Desir and Dee Delaney, have combined for three starts.

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“You kind of have a plan of how it’s going to go,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “And then they’re adjusting from the start, which is really challenging to do because you have six weeks of training camp where you’re kind of planning one thing, and then two quarters into the fight, ‘Oh, things change.’ "

But this is where next man up evolved from a cliche to a concept — a tightly embraced one — for the secondary. Though forced to play more zone than it would prefer, Bowles’ unit entered Thursday tied for fourth in the NFL with 14 interceptions and tied for sixth in net yards allowed per pass attempt (5.9).

All without sacrificing Bowles’ hankering to harass quarterbacks. The Bucs’ blitz percentage (on 38.8 percent of opponents’ dropbacks) led the NFL. And while the depth issues have been exposed from time to time (the Bucs’ 247.5 passing yards allowed per game ranked 20th), the Bucs (8-3) owned a three-game lead in the NFC South entering Thursday nights’ game between the Saints and Cowboys.

“Our guys, they believe in if you’re on this roster there’s an expectation of the level of play,” coach Bruce Arians said. “You step in, you step up.”

Finally, they get to step back in time to the corner rotation envisioned at the dawn of the season.

“I think they’ve done a great job understanding what we had to do to win ballgames and communicating with each other,” Bowles said. “Each guy brought something different to the table, so to make it this far and get to 8-3 and still have a lot of guys to be juggled in there is a credit to those guys.”

Contact Joey Knight @jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

A seven-man rotation

The Bucs have used seven starting cornerbacks so far, employing 10 different starting cornerback tandems (or trios) in their first 11 games

Cowboys: Sean Murphy-Bunting, Carlton Davis

Falcons: Jamel Dean, Carlton Davis

Rams: Jamel Dean, Carlton Davis, Ross Cockrell

Patriots: Carlton Davis, Richard Sherman, Ross Cockrell

Dolphins: Richard Sherman, Jamel Dean

Eagles: Richard Sherman, Jamel Dean, Ross Cockrell

Bears: Jamel Dean, Ross Cockrell, Dee Delaney

Saints: Pierre Desir, Jamel Dean

Washington: Jamel Dean, Dee Delaney

Giants: Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean

Colts: Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean

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