Doug Martin suffers knee injury, Luke Kuechly still absent

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw Doug Martin miss today's practice with a knee injury. While Lovie Smith said he hoped to have Martin back soon, that's something the Bucs' head coach always says -- and any time a player goes from participating in practice to being absent entirely with a knee injury the very next day it's a bad sign. If Martin can't go on Sunday, Charles Sims will likely see his role expand with Bobby Rainey getting some carries for the first time this year as well.

In better news, Donovan Smith saw his participation upgraded to limited after sitting out yesterday's practice, which is a solid indication he could play on Sunday. Johnthan Banks, Evan Smith and Luke Stocker missed today's practice, though, which is not a good sign for their status for Sunday's game.

As for the Carolina Panthers, Luke Kuechly still has not passed the concussion protocol, meaning his participation on Sunday remains in doubt. The Panthers also continued to have Jerrico Cotchery, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert absent from practice, thoug hthey did see Thomas Davis participate fully.