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Tom Crabtree and Michael Adams will miss Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, head coach Greg Schiano announced. Adams had surgery this week to deal with an undisclosed knee injury, but he will be back this season. Crabtree is dealing with a high ankle sprain and has not practiced this week, so his loss is no surprise.
In better news, fullback Erik Lorig is likely to suit up. He has had full participation in practice this week and should be good to go on Sunday. That likely means the Bucs will cut Spencer Larsen either today or tomorrow, possibly to add a fifth cornerback to the roster -- undrafted rookie Deveron Carr being the most likely option, as he's currently on the practice squad.
Carl Nicks could play on Sunday, but Greg Schiano noted that Nicks' conditioning will be the biggest issue standing the way of Nicks starting against the New Orleans Saints. Nicks didn't have any opportunity to work on his conditioning as he was dealing with MRSA. It sounded like the Buccaneers were considering platooning him with Gabe Carimi if conditioning becomes an issue.
The biggest injury problem for the Buccaneers is Crabtree, however. The Bucs managed to get just two yards of receiving production out of their tight ends last week, despite having at least one tight end on the field for every offensive snap. That production has to improve, and the only remotely capable receiver on the roster is Crabtree. Without him, the Bucs seemed completely incapable of attacking the middle of the field and threatening linebackers in coverage.