Joe Buck on call on Chris Godwin's injury: 'You feel a bit sick'

Joe Buck didn't want to be okay. With 1:20 left in their game Monday against the Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were down 10 points at their own 18 on third-and-17. They had no time limit.

In Buck's mind, it was time to concede the game.

“I know it's a 10-point game, and I know you don't give up games, but at some point, you want to get out here and live to fight another day,” Buck said, per ESPN's “Monday Night Football.” ” play-by-play voice, on the air.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield converted a first down completion to Chris Godwin. It was immediately clear, however, that something was wrong.

Godwin fell to the ground, wounded.

“Oh no,” Buck said into the air. “He can't get up. I was told from our production truck, we are not going to show the replay.”

(Content warning: The video below shows Godwin's injury and is somewhat graphic.)

Godwin's ankle, it was later revealed, was dislocated. He will likely miss the rest of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.

Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles finally had reason to try to play and not give up, even if a comeback was unrealistic. There's an argument for playing the full 60 minutes, and in this case, a big play could still give the Buccaneers an outside chance.

However, Buck, 55, has been calling games for decades, so he's seen a lot, and he thought the Bucs would be better than running the ball or taking a knee.

“I'd rather be wrong,” Buck said athletic. “I'd rather nothing happened. Not that anyone is any different than anyone else, but Godwin is one of the really cool guys in the league.”

Buck said Bowles knew more about his team than he did and understood where he was coming from.

“None of these guys, none of these head coaches want to see them give up a game, but from where I sat at that moment, it was a really physical game all night, and it felt like we'd already seen Mike Evans go out with a bad hamstring and That didn't look good,” Buck said.

“They're kind of down to Godwin and everyone else. After the actual physical game it went through my mind, like: 'What's there to gain?'

After the loss, Bowles was asked why Godwin was still in the game and the result was almost certainly out of reach.

“He's a player, we're trying to win ballgames,” Bowles said. “We're still down 10, we're trying to get the extra point and another onside kick, and it happened. We didn't have that many receivers left, so we played what we got.”

After the game, which the Ravens won, 41-31, Buck said he walked out of the booth with a pit in his stomach.

“You feel kind of sick that happened,” Buck said.

(Photo by Joe Buck: Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images; Video: Courtesy of ESPN)