TAMPA — As Tony Gonzalez walked off the field Monday night at the Louisiana Superdome, a certain rising young star stopped him to ask what everyone wants to know.

Saints TE Jimmy Graham, named to the Pro Bowl this week in just his second season, had to ask Gonzalez: What’s his secret?

“I get that question a lot,” said Gonzalez, the Falcons tight end and likely Hall of Famer who plays the Bucs on Sunday.

“It’s not really something I can sum up in a few words. I guess, to put it simply, it’s hard work, perseverance (and) you have to have to mind-set of total conviction and a passion for the game.

“And you have to kind of be obsessed. It’s borderline crazy. Not everybody can do it. Most people can’t do it. You have to be obsessed with being the best player you can be. That means you’re going to put in a lot more work than the next guy. That means before practice, during practice, after practice. There’s really no offseason.”

The Bucs can attest. Gonzalez has been a matchup nightmare for Tampa Bay, which has opted to use CB Ronde Barber, also a 15-year veteran, against him.

Gonzalez, 35, and Barber, 36, share a mutual admiration.

“We came in (to the league) together, so obviously we’ve had a chance to go against each other a lot,” Gonzalez said of Barber. “I respect him so much because, when you talk about perseverance and being able to stick around and play at such a level like he does for a long time, obviously I know firsthand how hard it is.

“It’s not an easy thing to do. It has little to do with athletic ability. It has more to do with mind-set, and I really respect him for that. He’s always in the right place at the right time. You’re looking at the film and you say, ‘How did he make that play?’ It’s probably not even in their defensive package. But he saw something and hit the hole and made the play. It’s results, and this guy gets results. It’s a privilege to go against someone like him.”

The Bucs have had mixed results against Gonzalez. He had just two catches for 18 yards in the first meeting this season. But he had an eight-catch, 72-yard performance last season and caught nine passes for 83 yards in a meeting in 2009.

TRUEBLOOD OUT: Jeremy Trueblood‘s season is over, with the veteran right tackle ruled out for Sunday after a concussion.

According to Bucs coach Raheem Morris, Trueblood will be replaced in the lineup by James Lee, a player who becomes a free agent in the offseason but gets a final chance to impress his current team. Lee has been slowed by injuries this season, one year after he replaced Trueblood down the stretch of a 10-6 season.

The Bucs also might take a look at Demar Dotson at right tackle, Morris said. He has played extensively as a tight end in two-tight end, short-yardage situations, but he hasn’t played much as a tackle.

injury updates: WR Arrelious Benn is questionable after not practicing this week because of a neck injury. DT Albert Haynesworth (knee) also missed practice and is questionable. He missed last week’s game at Carolina, as did DT Brian Price (ankle). Morris said Price was improving and had a chance to play after practicing Friday.

Stephen F. Holder can be reached at sholder@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3377. View his blog at tampabay.com/blogs/bucs. Follow him on Twitter at @BucsBeat.

Read More: Jeremy Trueblood (OT – TAM), Kellen Winslow (TE – TAM), Albert Haynesworth (DT – TAM), Arrelious Benn (WR – TAM), Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t expected to put up much of a fight against the playoff-bound Atlanta Falcons in Week 17, but being without Kellen Winslow might make their chances of pulling an upset even more minuscule.

Winslow missed practice on Friday due to something that is not injury-related, and his status for Sunday’s game is unclear.

The rest of the Buccaneers injury report is relatively clean: Jeremy Trueblood is out with a concussion, and wide receiver Arrelious Benn and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth are both questionable, but no other major name is worse than probable.

Here’s the rest of the Bucs injury report for Week 17:

OUT: T Jeremy Trueblood (concussion).

DOUBTFUL: none.

QUESTIONABLE: WR Arrelious Benn (neck), DE Michael Bennett (toe), DT Brian Price (ankle), DT Albert Haynesworth (knee).

PROBABLE: DE Adrian Clayborn (hamstring), LB Geno Hayes (finger), LB Adam Hayward (foot), DT Roy Miller (back), WR Preston Parker (concussion), WR Sammie Stroughter (knee).

For more on the Falcons, head to The Falcoholic; for more on the Buccaneers, visit Bucs Nation.

CHARLOTTE – The good news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is that the season is almost over.

The bad news is they’ll have to see Cam Newton twice a year for a while.

For the second time this month, Newton handed the Buccaneers an embarrassing defeat, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another in the Carolina Panthers’ 48-16 victory Saturday. The staggering Bucs have lost nine straight games, perhaps putting coach Raheem Morris’ job in jeopardy.

“As a player, you try not to think of that,” defensive tackle Frank Okam said. “You want to play hard for him. We know how hard he works, and how he’s doing everything he can to help us win. Then, we go out and make him look bad. When we don’t execute, it’s on us.”

Buccaneers receiver Arrelious Benn, who scored one of Tampa Bay’s two touchdowns, echoed those sentiments.

“A team must go out and do what it’s meant to do,” Benn said. “A coach can do only so much. I know I want to play well for my coach. I can say everyone in here wants to play well for our coach. We have to learn from this adversity we’ve had, and know that we’re not going to do the things that got us here again.”

Morris blamed this loss — and the season — on turnovers.

The Bucs have coughed up the ball 36 times this year, while taking it away only 23.

“That’s the difference between this season and last season,” Morris said, recalling Tampa Bay’s 10-6 record a year ago.

The Bucs (4-11) turned the ball over four times Saturday, including a fumble by LaGarrette Blount on the game’s first possession. After that, a frustrated Morris benched the running back until the second half.

“It’s a basic thing, and to fumble like that, that’s unacceptable,” Morris said. “If some players aren’t ready to play, we’ll put others in.”

And hope they can do something to slow Newton.

In two games against the Bucs this season, Newton accounted for eight touchdowns — four passing and four rushing — as the Panthers totaled 79 points.

Newton, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, broke Peyton Manning’s rookie record for yards passing Saturday and set a franchise mark with a 91-yard touchdown toss to Brandon LaFell.

Newton threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a remarkable 49-yard run up the middle in which he outraced smaller defensive backs to the end zone.

The Panthers (6-9) scored on eight of their first nine possessions and piled up 397 yards in three quarters against the league’s 30th-ranked defense. Carolina coach Ron Rivera pulled Newton and the other key starters early in the fourth.

DeAngelo Williams scored on runs of 8 and 22 yards, his sixth and seventh TDs of the season, and Jonathan Stewart ran for 88 yards and caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Newton.

Newton entered the game needing 18 yards passing to break Manning’s rookie record of 3,739 and did so with a 7-yard pass to LaFell on the first possession.

“It’s tremendous, but if you ask the young man he’ll tell you the most important thing is we won the game,” Rivera said. “There’s a lot of good things ahead for us.”

Newton, however, was just getting started.

On Carolina’s third possession, he backpedaled into his own end zone and unleashed a strike to LaFell, who got a key downfield block from Steve Smith to spring him for a 91-yard score. That topped the franchise record of 89 yards set in the Panthers’ expansion season of 1995 by Kerry Collins and Willie Green.

LaFell finished with a career-high 103 yards receiving.

Carolina’s offensive line completely mauled a Bucs defense that was without starting defensive tackles Albert Haynesworth and Brian Price. The Panthers piled up a season-high 270 yards rushing and scored three times on the ground, giving them 25 for the season — most in the league.

Just as they did on Dec. 4, the Panthers jumped all over the Bucs early.

Newton led the Panthers on a picture-perfect, 80-yard, nine-play touchdown drive to open the game, with Williams scoring on an 8-yard touchdown run.

The Panthers led 20-10 at halftime but put the hammer down in the third quarter as Williams ran for a 22-yard touchdown and Newton threw an 11-yard scoring pass to Stewart on fourth-and-1 to put Carolina up 34-10.

Then came the play of the game as Newton faked a handoff to Stewart and took off through a huge hole on the right side of the line. Newton juked a defender before shifting into another gear and blowing through the Tampa Bay secondary for the longest touchdown run ever by a Panthers quarterback.

He added a touchdown toss to Jeremy Shockey to close out the scoring.

Josh Freeman threw for 274 yards and accounted for both Tampa Bay touchdowns — one passing and one rushing.

NOTES: Jordan Pugh was slated to start at strong safety for the injured Charles Godfrey, but developed concussion-like symptoms prior to the game and didn’t play. That forced the Panthers to start Jonathan Nelson, who was added to the roster from the practice squad. Nelson had the game’s only interception. … In two games against the Panthers, Blount was held to 30 yards rushing combined.

TAMPA — Ronde Barber’s greatest play, a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown to clinch the 2002 NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia, came despite playing with the worst injury of his career. Five weeks earlier, Barber tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a game at Detroit.

“I try not to care about injuries, to be honest with you,” Barber said Thursday. “If I can go through it, I go through it. I had a few this year that I’ve played through and dealt with.”

At 36, Barber is one of the NFL’s iron men. On Saturday at Carolina, Barber will prove that again, playing in his 224th NFL game and tying retired LB Derrick Brooks for the most games in Bucs history. Barber could set the record by playing in the season finale on Jan. 1 at Atlanta.

The third-round pick out of Virginia in 1997 was unaware of the milestone until informed by a Bucs staff member.

“It’s a reward for consistency, I guess,” Barber said. “I do have a high pain threshold.”

He said he missed a bowl game at Virginia when he stepped in a hole during practice in Shreveport, La., and broke his foot. He missed three games in high school in Roanoke, Va., with a broken collarbone. But he has never missed a game because of injury in nearly 15 pro seasons.

“Ronde, without a doubt, in Buccaneer history, is one of the greatest — and, arguably, in NFL history,” coach Raheem Morris said. “He’s an iron man, our Cal Ripken Jr., so to speak.”

Barber contemplated retirement after last season but signed a one-year, $4 million deal. He and the Bucs will evaluate his future during the offseason.

“If Ronde wants to play, we’re going to likely want to have him back,” Morris said. “I put a lot of pressure on (GM) Mark (Dominik) when I say that, but good. It’s not like he’s slowed down. If he has the ability to play and we can work out a deal, I’m sure we’ll do those things. He’s just one of those type of guys.

“He told me I should be the first person to tell him he can’t play. And when I tell him that, he said he’ll walk away. I’m not prepared to tell him that yet because I’m actually finding more roles for him to do.”

TAKING IT SLOW: DT Albert Haynesworth hasn’t practiced much the past few weeks.

The team continues to try and reduce wear and tear on a bother­some knee that has affected him since he was with the Patriots earlier this season.

Haynesworth arrived with a reputation for not being a hard worker, and he rarely practiced in New England.

Morris said the Bucs’ handling of Haynesworth has been prudent. The 10-year veteran hasn’t missed any of the six games Tampa Bay has played since he joined the roster last month.

“Right now it’s about maintenance and getting him to the game,” Morris said. “For the younger players it’s about the fundamental core beliefs and getting those guys better. But we’re talking about an older player, a veteran type of guy and a guy who is 6-5 and 300-plus pounds who have to be able to deal with.”

Said Haynesworth, 30: “I’m just old. They just want me to go run in the race (on game day). I’ve been in the game long enough to where I know how to do things. If I was a little younger, I’d definitely need more practice. But I’ve seen it, and I know how I play, so I’ll be okay.”

INJURY REPORT: In addition to Haynesworth, LB Adam Hayward (foot) missed practice Thursday. DT Brian Price (ankle) is improving, as are LB Geno Hayes (knee) and DE Michael Bennett (toe).

Read More: Ronde Barber (CB – TAM), Derrick Brooks (LB – TAM), Geno Hayes (LB – TAM), Arrelious Benn (WR – TAM), Brian Price (DT – TAM), Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcomed three players back to practice on Thursday ahead of their game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday.

Defensive tackle Brian Price (ankle), defensive lineman Michael Bennett and linebacker Geno Hayes (knee) all returned to practice after missing time on Wednesday, all this according to the team’s Twitter account.

The Bucs also tweeted that head coach Raheem Morris expects wide receiver Arrelious Benn to play against the Panthers. Benn was held out for last weeks game against the Dallas Cowboys after suffering from concussion-related symptoms.

In one last note, the team tweets that cornerback Ronde Barber will play in his 224th game with Tampa Bay on Saturday, tying Derrick Brooks for the most games played in team history.

For more on this game, head over to the NFL hub at SB Nation. But you can also check out Bucs Nation for more on the Buccaneers and Cat Scratch Reader for more on the Carolina Panthers.