Buccaneers

Buccaneers WR Jalen McMillan made his return in Week 15 and was elated to play his first game of the season after he fractured three vertebrae in his neck during the preseason and was told by his doctor that he was lucky he wasn’t paralyzed.

He recently spoke to the public for the first time since the August injury.

“I mean, it was dark for me at first,” said McMillan, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “First, I felt good, and I thought it was just a minor injury, and then the doctor said I almost got paralyzed, so it kind of scared me a little bit. And then there was doubt too because I didn’t know if I was going to be playing again. I kept having to try to wake up with a positive attitude. At first, I didn’t for like a week, two weeks, and I was just sad and depressed. But then the mode switched, I was to wake up, do positive things, find small wins, and celebrate small wins throughout the day. It took a lot. And just to get back to that moment, and to just vision and just to see what I could potentially do if I come back — that’s what I was thriving off of and just kept motivating myself off of.”

“It’s about embracing your journey, really,” McMillan continued. “It sucked for me because people would tell me, like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be back. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.’ But then again, in the back of my head, it’s like, ‘I’m not sure if I’ll be back, but I’m going to try to approach every day as if I am.’ So it just took everything in me. It took waking up, reading, finding new hobbies of mine, trying to explore different aspects of my life just so I could try to level up outside of football. When they cleared me, I was really, really emotional. But during the game, I had seen the vision so many times that the ball — just seeing the ball came naturally, just because I dreamed of it back. It feels normal. It felt like I didn’t really miss a beat, just my head being in football and just every day being consistent in practice habits, I kind of approached every week like that as if I were playing so that when I came back it didn’t feel different or alien.”

“[The doctor] said, ‘I have God on my side.’ I’m just blessed,” McMillan added. “I grew as a person, and I’m just honored to play this game. I want to give everything to this game.”

• The Buccaneers, who currently sit at 7-7, have two remaining games against Carolina which shares the divisional lead with them. At this time, Albert Breer does not believe that the team will move on from HC Todd Bowles, however, if they fail to reach the postseason, Tampa Bay could opt to replace him after dropping five of their last six games down the stretch.

Falcons

• Falcons HC Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot‘s futures in Atlanta remain murky, per Albert Breer. Both Morris and Fontenot have the benefit of owner Arthur Blank‘s patience; however, the team is currently 4-9 and falling far behind expectations. If Atlanta can win two of their next three, Morris and Fontenot could be afforded the luxury of another season, Breer speculates.
• Morris is “very hopeful” WR Drake London can return from his knee injury in Week 16: “Obviously, got to get to the practice week. I’m very hopeful he can go out there and play for us.” (Josh Kendall)
• Morris talked about how QB Kirk Cousins has performed as a starter this year, but wouldn’t compare him to QB Michael Penix Jr.: “Kirk is just playing well. I don’t want to compare the two (Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.). They both have done a nice job of getting things done. We’ve had moments where Mike has looked great.” (Kendall)
• Per D.Orlando Ledbetter, Atlanta CB Mike Hughes will miss Week 16 with an ankle sprain. 

Panthers

Panthers HC Dave Canales admitted that the team doesn’t have much of an advantage with QB Bryce Young in quarterback sneak situations.

“We have, we’re workin’ on stuff,” he said, via Panthers Wire. “With Bryce, it’s physics. He goes about 195 pounds. And when you have a 220-, 230-pound quarterback leaning on a center, that’s an advantage. When you’re not putting a bunch of force that way, I don’t see that as an advantage. The other part is I like to leverage off of some of the formations to throw shots down the field. You get into a third-and-inches and you’re in dive type of plays—it allows you to try to throw a keeper, throw a play-action. And we’ve had some success over the course of the last two seasons finding explosives in short yardage at a higher rate than most teams who are going to sneak it. It’s great to have a sneak. It’s great when you can just, man, it’s half a yard or something like that and you know you can execute it with your quarterback. It’s great to have that in your back pocket. But that’s not our style, and so we just try to maximize our approach.“