Not only did Tampa Bay come out of Monday night’s game vs. Carolina beaten, but also battered.

Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden said defensive tackle Chris Hovan injured his knee, guard Jeremy Zuttah his ankle, and center Jeff Faine also was hurt.

“We’ve got a number of guys being evaluated right now,” Gruden said Tuesday. “It was a tough loss for us. Some great individual efforts, some great collective efforts, but as I said last night we just didn’t have an answer for the Panthers’ running game last night. They did an excellent job.”

Yet what hurt as much as anything was the number of tackles the normally sound Buccaneers missed.

“We missed more tackles than we had missed probably all season,” Gruden said. “Again, I’m not going to stand up here and make excuses. I’ll take responsibility for it. We’ve got to do much better.”

Maybe so, but it won’t be any easier. Sunday the Buccaneers get the Falcons and their running backs, Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood.

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