Latest Jordan Whitehead injury update is bad news for the Buccaneers

Sunday was an excellent day for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team came roaring out of its bye week to crush the New York Giants 30-7 and hopefully take the first steps toward getting the season back on track.

Not everyone escaped the afternoon unscathed, though.

Late in the game safety Jordan Whitehead made an awkward tackle at the goal line to save a touchdown and came off the field in a ton of pain. It didn't take much of a look to see that he might have injured his pectoral muscle, esepcially based on the way he made the tackle and then grabbed for that area of his body, and matters were made worse when he was almost immedietly ruled out.

On Monday the bad news seemed to get even worse as it appears the Bucs defense will be down yet another player the rest of the way.

Jordan Whitehead feared to have suffered a season-ending injury in win over Giants

According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the fear is that Whitehead indeed has a torn pectoral muscle which is an injury that will likely miss the rest of the season.

It's another brutal blow to a defense that has already been eaten alive by the injury bug this season. Antoine Winfield Jr., Vita Vea, and Calijah Kancey have all missed time with injuries while SirVocea Dennis is on IR and Jamel Deal having just returned from missing the last four games.

Zyon McCollum was also a question mark heading into Sunday's game, although he was able to play alongside Dean as Tampa Bay's top two corners.

The upside is that Mike Edwards was brought in last week after he was released by the Tennessee Titans. It's the second time this season that Edwards had hit waivers but he returns to Tampa Bay and a defense where he helped bring home a Super Bowl back in 2020.

When Edwards was signed it was a move to add depth to the safety room and reunite him with both Winfield Jr. and Whitehead, but it took less than a week for him to be counted on as a replacement.

The defense bounced back in a big way this past week with a gentleman's shutout of the Giants. It wasn't until midway through the fourth quarter that New York finally scored but for the most part the defense absolutely smothered the Giants.

Now the Bucs get another matchup against a backup quarterback in two weeks with Aiden O'Connell starting for the Las Vegas Raiders, which comes after a game against a Panthers offense that has been all over the place this year.

Losing another starter to an injury is less than ideal, though, and will further test a defense that has already been pushed to the brink.

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