Bucs EDGE Diaby Ruled Out For Sunday Night Clash

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a huge matchup on Sunday Night Football against the Chicago Bears in Week 9 of the NFL season.

Riding a two-game win streak over divisional foes, the Bucs could move into first place in the NFC South with another victory, but they will have to do it against one of the hottest teams in the league.

While the injury report for Tampa Bay is relatively clean, head coach Todd Bowles will be without Yaya Diaby, one of his top pass rushers.

Diaby suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in the Bucs' 16-0 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, and was held out of practice this past week.

Entering the season, Diaby was a guy pegged to take a big jump, especially as a leader in the locker room.

It was slow sailing in the beginning of the season for the former Louisville standout, as he failed to record a sack in the first six games.

But, in Week 7, against the Carolina Panthers, Diaby terrorized starting quarterback Bryce Young, taking him down for a trifecta of sacks.

The injury comes at an unfortunate time for Diaby, especially with a mobile and dangerous quarterback in Caleb Williams next on the schedule.

Williams is coming off of the most impressive performance a quarterback has had against the Seattle Seahawks this season, leading the Bears to a comfortable victory on the road.

The former No. 1 overall pick is elusive and does a great job of extending plays, which Diaby would help mitigate.

With the fourth-year man sidelined, players like Rueben Bain Jr. and Al-Quadin Muhammad will need to step up.

Bain has still had a very quiet start to his NFL career, but has shown signs of improvement over the coming weeks. 

The Bucs' top draft pick recorded his first sack against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay's overtime loss, and will be looking to add another against a pass-heavy Bears offense.

Like Diaby, Muhammad is another player heating up over the past few weeks, recording sacks against both the Steelers and Panthers.

While he wasn't the biggest-name signing of the offseason, Tampa Bay is glad it went after him.

Last season, with the Detroit Lions, Muhammad got to Williams in one of their two matchups, recording one of his career-high 11 sacks.

The Bucs will look to contain Williams and pull off the upset on Sunday at 8:20 p.m.