The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drew the Philadelphia Eagles as opponents on Super Wild Card Weekend, but they won’t have their starting running back to lead the ground game in what’s expected to be a rainy matchup. On Saturday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out that Leonard Fournette was not activated by the 4 p.m. ET deadline, which makes him ineligible to suit up vs. the Eagles on Sunday.
Fournette injured his hamstring in Tampa Bay’s Week 15 loss to the New Orleans Saints, and he was placed on injured reserve. It was originally thought he would miss the remainder of the regular season and hit the ground running in the playoffs, but it appears as though he didn’t recover enough in time.
This is an important development, as fellow running back Ronald Jones has already been ruled out for Sunday with an ankle injury. Tom Brady will likely be handing off to a committee comprised of Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Le’Veon Bell and Giovani Bernard — who was activated off IR in time for Sunday.
With rain and wind in the weather forecast, the team that runs the ball more effectively in this matchup could be the one that comes out on top. That’s not good news for the Bucs, as the Eagles finished the regular season with the No. 1 rushing offense in the league.