by During the holidays, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, running back Leonard Fournette, are feeling a little too generous. Fournette sent out a tweet — then quickly deleted it — in which he may have given away too much information about his game status.
The tweet initially focused on critics who believe Fournette is “out of shape.” In response to this criticism, Fournette revealed that he is dealing with a Lisfranc injury which is preventing him from pushing off his foot.
The tweet didn’t last long.
It is unclear why Fournette deleted the tweet. Fournette kept things respectful while addressing his critics. He said nothing inflammatory or disrespectful.
Because of this, we can surmise that the tweet was most likely deleted because Fournette was talking about the injury. Fournette has appeared on the Bucs’ injury report several times this season, but only once with a foot injury. That came in Week 14. He hasn’t missed a practice or received an injury designation before games in the past two weeks.
NFL teams usually like to keep this information in house. Opponents can gain a competitive advantage by knowing details about a player’s injury. It’s also possible the Buccaneers could get in trouble for not listing Fournette’s foot problem on the injury report. The last scenario seems unlikely. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris revealed that he had dealt with a Lisfranc injury in the preseason and was not listed on the Steelers’ Week 1 injury report.
Leonard Fournette comes to the playoff push as the Buccaneers
If Fournette felt the injury on Sunday, it didn’t show in the box score. Fournette had a strong game, rushing 20 times for 72 yards and catching nine passes for 90 yards. He’s been used a lot, suggesting the Bucs aren’t particularly concerned about the injury.
Bucs rookie Rachaad White, who had been seeing more snaps in recent weeks, saw his workload ease off slightly as Fournette got carries. However, White was the one to score, catching a 3-yard pass from Tom Brady in the fourth quarter.
Things looked rocky early on for the Buccaneers, but the team pulled off a late comeback win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Despite trailing 16-6 in the fourth quarter, Brady and the Bucs fought their way back into contention and forced overtime.
On Tampa Bay’s first overtime possession, Brady led the team on a nine-game 66-yard drive that set up Ryan Succop’s game-winning field goal. The Buccaneers won the contest 19-16.
