The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were hopeful to have left guard Ali Marpet, arguably their best offensive lineman, back this week to face the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, after missing the last two games with a concussion.
But Marpet has been downgraded to out and will miss his third straight game, the team announced Sunday.
Marpet suffered the concussion in Week 8 against the New York Giants, and missed the entire week of practice leading up to the New Orleans Saints game in Week 9, a game that Tom Brady was pressured on over 46% of dropbacks, the most he's seen since 2016.
He returned to practice last week and practiced all three days on a limited basis. He even practiced in full this week on Thursday, which is part of the final steps to clearing the concussion protocol. But he missed Friday's night practice at Raymond James Stadium due to still experiencing symptoms.
Marpet did practice with the team Saturday night, but was limited.
The Bucs face a huge test against Aaron Donald, who is not only considered the league's best interior pass-rusher but one of this generation's best interior rushers, and Marpet made them better equipped to handle him. Marpet's 94.7% pass-block win rate as a guard and 74.4% run-block win rate are both sixth-best in the league this season. He posted a 92.9% pass-block win rate against the Rams last season, seventh-best of any Rams opponent and the best on his team. His 79.3% run-block win rate against the Rams last season was fifth-best of all Rams opponents.
