It's been just over three weeks since we last saw Chris Godwin on the field, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been missing him ever since. Despite not having one of their best offensive players, the Bucs have managed to take three of the best teams in the NFL to the wire, nearly beating the Chiefs on the road with a late surge.
That game against Kansas City is notable not because Todd Bowles didn't go for a two-point conversion but the likely reason why. If Godwin had been healthy there's a pretty decent chance the Bucs decide to go for two rather than settling for the extra point.
Liam Coen has managed to help the offense not miss too many beats without Godwin but his absence is impossible to overlook. That's why news that the NFL has essentially brushed off the play that ended his season even more of a bummer.
NFL rescinds Roquan Smith's fine for tackle that ended Chris Godwin's season
Initially the play resulted in a fine for Roquan Smith, who seemed to have executed a hip-drop tackle on Godwin. There wasn't any intent behind the injury, and it would be dangerously irresponsible to suggest as much, but an illegal tackle is still illegal even if it wasn't intentional.
It's that part that the league has seemingly read into, as it was announced this week that the fine Smith received was being rescinded.
"Upon appeal, NFL hearing officer Jordy Nelson has rescinded the $16,883 fine levied against Ravens LB Roquan Smith for his alleged unnecessary roughness on Chris Godwin on the play that ended in the Bucs WR dislocating his ankle," Schefter reported.
It's not like the fine did the Bucs any good to begin with, but the fact that Godwin's season-ending injury has essentially been brushed off isn't a great feeling. If the league decided that the tackle wasn't worthy of a fine then that's something we'll have to live with, but it still looked like one of the types of tackles that is trying to be taken out of the game.
All of this is superfluous, because the fact of the matter is Godwin is stil out for the season and the Bucs sorely miss him on offense. The fine was a small victory, but it seems even those are hard to come by this year for Tampa Bay.
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