Saturday, 4 a.m.
Is Chris Godwin at 90 percent good enough?
Better questions: Is Chris Godwin, with nine of 10 fingers, good enough?
The Tampa Bay Bucs will probably find out Sunday night, when they face a crucial NFC South game. Godwin, who has been hurt for much of the season, is expected to play with his hand in a stint.
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Godwin, who has played in four games and has 25 catches, is coming off surgery to his left index finger. He was able to practice on Friday.
“There’s no doubt – we know what he brings," said Bucs' coach Bruce Arians. "We’ll see how sore it is tomorrow. He caught the ball fine, but we’ll just see how sore it is. I would anticipate him probably playing, just knowing how tough he is and what it all means to him.”
Godwin's presence has been missed throughout the season -- Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson have been used more in his absence. The Bucs have added former Pro Bowl receiver Antonio Brown, but Arians must smile at the thought of having both alongside Mike Evans.
“It’s going to be just, ‘How much pain can he tolerate?’ " Arians said. "If there was any jeopardy (of infection) at all, we would not let him play. They’ve got a very nice splint-brace thing worked out that he wore today. Like I said, Chris is tough – he’ll be out there.
“I think we’re past any kind of infection or anything like that. If there was any jeopardy at all, we would not let him play. He’s been cleared, so we’ll just see how the pain tolerance goes and see how sore he is tomorrow."
Godwin had six catches for 79 yards when the teams met for the first time this season.
By and large, however, the talented wide receiver corps of the Bucs has not been at full strength under new quarterback Tom Brady. Both Godwin and Evans have been hurt.
The Bucs may be missing guard Ali Marpet, who is still in concussion protocol.
“We’ve been itching for this game," said outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. "We know they’ve had our number for the last three games we played [against them]. We’ve got to step up [and] we’ve got to do something different to give ourselves a chance to win this game. [We have] got to get some sacks [and] get some turnovers, but we’ve still got to maintain that strong defensive front where [if] we don’t allow [any] rushing and few passing yards, we’ll be able to get the job done. This is a big-time game for us for the No. 1 seed and it will set us up for where we want to be at.”
Kickoff is at 8:20 p.m. Sunday.
Prediction: Tampa Bay 21, New Orleans 20.
NFL
Buffalo 23, Seattle 20.
Pittsburgh 30, Dallas 17.
Tennessee 28, Chicago 21.
Colleges
Clemson 24, Notre Dame 20
Florida 24, Georgia 23.
Memphis 40, USF 13.
FSU 27, Pitt 24.