The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are coming into Week 11 after a win against the Cowboys and the team is hoping to have Vincent Jackson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins back from injury for Jameis Winston. The team has Charles Sims and Doug Martin as fantasy start options for this week for owners as the team matches up with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Buccaneers offense has missed both Jackson and Jenkins for long stretches this season, with Jackson out since Week 7 and Jenkins out since back in Week 2. According to Andrew Astleford at ESPN, the Buccaneers are "awaiting" the returns of both players for the back stretch of the season, with head coach Lovie Smith saying that the team is "going to be better when we get those players" back from injury.
Jackson has been out with a knee injury, while Jenkins has been dealing with a shoulder issue and there is a chance that both players could be back in Week 11. The Buccaneers already lost Louis Murphy for the season and that put pressure on Mike Evans, Adam Humphries and Brandon Myers as the top pass catching options on Sunday. Evans has been playing well this season with 40 catches for 662 yards, but defenses have been able to focus on him with Jackson out.
Winston will have more options in the passing game once Jackson and Jenkins come back and that should help open things up in the rushing game for players like Doug Martin and Charles Sims. Jackson remains second on the team in receiving with 319 yards this season despite being out and Jenkins was actually leading the team when he went down with his injury. Jenkins has had issues staying healthy over the past two seasons and the Bucs hope that when he returns he will not have to sit out again.
The Buccaneers are hanging around in the NFC playoffs race, as the team is now in eighth place in the conference behind the Redskins. Washington and Tampa Bay are both 4-5, but the Redskins have the tiebreak heading into Week 11 and those two teams are currently behind the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons (both 6-3) in the wild card standings. The team obviously needs some help with those teams losing, but after getting the number one overall pick last season, the fact that the Bucs are in the mix is some progress for 2015.
