The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons handily on Sunday, picking up their second straight win and their third victory in the last four games.

It was a huge win in the NFC South standings, too. The Falcons have now fallen to 3-5, which is right where the Buccaneers stand, but Tampa Bay holds the tiebreaker after beating Atlanta head-to-head. It was a big moment for a Bucs team looking to claw back into the division race, and the Bucs have done just that with the Carolina Panthers losing to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night to sit at 3-4.

However, the win might have come at a big cost.

Yaya Diaby’s knee injury will put a dent in the Buccaneers pass rush if he’s out for a period of time

Edge rusher Yaya Diaby left the game early in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. It remains to be seen just how extensive the injury is, but Diaby will likely get an MRI on Monday, and the team will know where to go from there.

Diaby, who finished with three sacks against the Panthers in Week 7, is a major component of the Buccaneers pass rush. If he misses any period of time, it’s going to set the unit back right after it finally started finding some momentum over the last three weeks.

The first name that comes to mind as a replacement is Reuben Bain Jr. Diaby’s absence would also open the door for David Walker to see more opportunities. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since Walker has shown a lot of promise.

Bain Jr. is a different story. He’s still finding his footing, and he just isn’t as reliable a player as Diaby, or Walker, are right now. Asking him to step into a bigger role on short notice doesn’t automatically mean the pass rush stays on track.

The good news is Bain was in on several pressures, two specifically, that led to Michael Penix Jr. interceptions on Sunday. The growth may be slower than expected, but it’s coming.

Tampa Bay still has Al-Quadin Muhammad and Anthony Nelson on the roster, but those two are more rotational players than anything. Neither one is the kind of player Diaby is. He’s someone you can build a pass rush around and trust to handle 65 to 70 percent of the snaps on a regular basis. Replacing that type of workload isn’t as simple as plugging in the next guy on the depth chart.

Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers defense are rolling

At the same time, the Buccaneers defense really turned it on for the third week in a row. Sure, the weather definitely played a role in some of the Falcons’ offensive mistakes. Still, Bowles once again devised a great game plan, and the Buccaneers players executed it at a high level.

That matters a great deal heading into Monday’s MRI. A defense that is playing this well is in a much better position to absorb a loss than one that is already struggling. Bowles has shown he can scheme around what he has, and he may need to lean on that ability in the coming weeks.

Regardless, the Bucs are 3-5 and now head into a big-time matchup against the Chicago Bears in Week 9. If Tampa Bay can pull out a win and get to 4-5 heading into the bye week, we’re having a completely different conversation afterward about where this team can go in 2026.