6 months and 3 ligament tears later, Jensen returns to Bucs lineup Upon being introduced as an offensive starter on the video board during pregame introductions, Ryan Jensen drew a louder ovation than even his iconic quarterback. It wouldn't be the only instance in which Tom Brady was upstaged on this unsightly evening, just the most poignant and unlikely one. Exactly 51 weeks after his last NFL game, and nearly six months after tearing three knee ligaments on the second day of training camp, Jensen made his season debut Monday night, starting and going the distance in his team's 31-14 loss to the Cowboys. He had resumed practice with the team on Dec. 28 and had been activated from injured reserve earlier in the day Monday. "We do it for each other," Jensen said. "And after a year where I wasn't able to run out of the tunnel and be with my guys, it sucked. So today was a pretty surreal moment and I'm proud of myself for everything with this year, and getting out there and giving it my all and trying to help this team win." Jensen was carted off the AdventHealth Training Center practice field after tackle Aaron Stinnie appeared to push rookie defensive lineman Logan Hall into Jensen's left knee during a team drill. The Bucs never revealed the details of Jensen's injury, but the 2021 Pro Bowler came clean after the wild-card loss. Three torn knee ligaments (posterior cruciate ligament, anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament), meniscus damage, a small fracture and "another little bone chip thing." He never needed surgery and said he doesn't anticipate needing it in the offseason. "Some call it dumb," Jensen said of his efforts to return at some point this season. "But I'm a football player, and football players play football." His most prominent moments Monday: an unneccessary-roughness penalty late in the third period, and a couple of shoves of Cowboys All-Pro Micah Parsons when the edge-rush extraordinaire appeared to try to infiltrate the Bucs' huddle in the first half. For the night, Brady was sacked twice, but only because of his reliance on short, quick throws amid collapsing protection. "Obviously my season didn't start the way anybody wanted it to start," Jensen said. "But I just put my head down and just worked my ass off and was able to get to this point. Over about the last month, it really started feeling pretty good, and I said, ‘Whatever, let's give it a shot and let's go try to win a game.' Unfortunately we came up short today." Joey Knight, The Tampa Bay Times, published 17 January 2023