Bucs Could Be Down Both Starting Tackles Against Carolina
December 26th, 2022
Sunday status unknown.
It could be ugly on New Year’s Day, and not from a hangover.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles in his day-after presser said in last night’s overtime win over the sad Cardinals, All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs reaggravated his high ankle sprain.
Wirfs gutted out his injury and finished the game but he noticeably limped and was probably a step slower as a result.
Bowles also said left tackle Donovan Smith, who missed yesterday’s game, is still up in the air whether he can play Sunday in a winner-clinches-division game.
Throw in the fact that the Bucs lost backup swing tackle Josh Wells for the season with a knee injury last night, and the Bucs may have to pull a guy off the street to suit up.
Asked for a review of backup tackle Brandon Walton’s play at left tackle as he came in for Wells, Bowles said fundamentally he was poor but he battled. Bowles didn’t kill Walton for getting beat a few times by future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt, adding you pretty much expect that from Watt no matter who your left tackle may be.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:06 pm
Wells has been nothing but old banged up garbage for his career with the Bucs. Should of been gone already.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:06 pm
Is the sky falling? It might be.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Goedeke and Walton
December 26th, 2022 at 1:10 pm
If Bucs don’t go no huddle/hurry up vs Panthers, this game will be ugly
Brady doesn’t trust this injured OLine for protection and he just doesn’t have time to wait for receivers to get open or he is not comfortable because of the lack of trust.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:12 pm
The Panthers are 1-5 on the road so that’s good news for us!
December 26th, 2022 at 1:13 pm
Why is Smith out again? Ridiculous.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:18 pm
Smith and Wirfs need to get some injections, appropriate medications and gut it out. The fact that Licht did nothing else to fortify trench depth in August is really going to bite. Oh well.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:25 pm
Smith isn’t hurt. They probably benched him because they finally probably realized he sucks.😀
December 26th, 2022 at 1:29 pm
JASON LICHT has been an abysmal FAILURE
December 26th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
Nah,
Durable
Dependable
Donnie
……has too many other things to worry about.
He can’t be bothered by actually playing for his 1million per game.
Wells sucks BTW. His piss poor footwork caused his injury.
No big loss there.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:32 pm
Alan is right. The hurry up is their only shot. Gotta wear out their line and slow the rush. 5 wide gun, and let Brady work. We’re seeing Brady’s frustration bleed into his play. He’s so worried about getting hit, he’s not even selling play action when they do call it.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:34 pm
This season just gets better and better and better…
December 26th, 2022 at 1:36 pm
Let me first preface what I’m about to say that I have absolutely no idea what’s happening with the Bucs. The following is just purely a theory I’m probably wrong but….We all know that the defense is Bowles’ Bailey-wick. Perhaps he feels that if he unleashes the offense it will would be a bad reflection on his defense. Not enough time for the defense to regroup and would be more frequently on the field. This would be a bad reflection on Bowles and his known prowess. So, is Bowles selling out the Buccaneers for his own career? At least he will still be coveted as a master of the defense and will always be employed by the nfl
December 26th, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Sorry posted on the wrong post
December 26th, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Brady gonna be calling Logan Mankins soon.🙄
December 26th, 2022 at 1:43 pm
It is pretty easy to assume that 97% of JBF commenters are the old angry guy who sits by himself at the bar, doesn’t tip well, and yells and complains about “kids these days”.
Hey Goat##ker, would love to see you try and tough out a high ankle sprain tough guy. You idiots complaining about licht do realize he built the roster to convince Brady to come here to begin with right?
December 26th, 2022 at 1:45 pm
Maybe it’s time they get the fans in there to draft for them. I’m sure we’d probably do a better job then them between that & FA. Licht is always wanting to trade up most of the time & a bunch of times they like to draft players coming off of serious injuries which should be a red flag. They seem like they like to draft players that have dealt with torn ACLs & other serious injuries like that.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:46 pm
This is on Licht. He rolled with what we had since Jensen went down in August. He did nothing to improve depth anywhere on the oline and now we are down to Mason as the only starter left standing. Burns is going to have a field day. All Carolina has to do is blitz 3 or 4 and play a press coverage and the bucs screen/run game will be useless. Hurry up is our only hope at this point and with a bunch of Best Buy cashiers filling in at both tackle positions they better learn the signals and terminology quick.
December 26th, 2022 at 1:51 pm
Makes me think about the draft where they drafted for special teams instead of loading up on the beef. Huge mistake. We either need to play good or dominate physically. How about both, or neither?
December 26th, 2022 at 2:00 pm
Tony. The fans draft? BWA HAHAHAHA
December 26th, 2022 at 2:03 pm
Going to need to have an extra TE in to help block with all the injuries. Which means one less target for passing. Licht not signing someone when Jensen went down was a head scratcher at the time, and only keeps looking like a more major mistake as the weeks roll on.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:04 pm
And no matter who starts at Tackle- you can bet that Stone head Bowles will continue trying to win by running the ball.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:09 pm
Dam. Don’t blame Brady if we don’t score any points next game.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
Does anyone here believe Leftwich and Bowles will make the necessary adjustments to cover for the depleted line? Or will they simply take the “next man up” approach and tell the O, “this is what we do, now go and do it!” I only ask because it sure seemed to me that is what they did yesterday. I saw very little help being given to Wirfs, who was obviously hurt, or Walton, who was obviously not prepared to go against Watt.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:31 pm
Turf monster strikes again!!
December 26th, 2022 at 2:32 pm
The season will end with a Carolina loss……these Bucs cannot even put a whooping on a very awful Cardinals team with a third string nobody QB.
This one of the worst Bucs team I’ve seen since the 80s……no joking here either.
What makes this season one of the worst is that you got probowl players on both sides of the ball and they’re still getting whooped.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:33 pm
Looks like we’ll see Justin Skule……has experience……..keep fingers crossed……maybe could slide Leverette over there or Goedeke……play with 2 guards……whatever
Best idea is to “shoot them up” and suit them up.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:37 pm
i remember as a kid when football players acted like they were in “north dallas 40”, never heard the word concussed, and made miller light commercials on the regular…
those were the days that mean joe green was “legit mean” and tony dorsett always spotted the ball himself, 2 yards further than where he was tackled…
also is it me, or are guys tearing up their knees at record rates nowadays…
back in the days guys would get injured or hurt, but not at the record rate teams rack up injuries these days – and aren’t we supposed to be so much further along in these areas of medicine, staying healthy, with trainers, technique and equipment
December 26th, 2022 at 2:42 pm
Wirfs should not have played. High ankle spraines take time to heal .Moron knew that
December 26th, 2022 at 2:42 pm
This team sucked last night. They beat an awful team. BARELY. FIRE TODD BOWLES DAMMIT.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:43 pm
@1Gr8Buc, I pretty much agree with all you wrote, especially concerning the criticism of JL. He built the team that won the Super Bowl two seasons ago and then brought pretty much the entire team back last season, which is very challenging and would have been beyond the capability of most GMs. Yet some are ready to launch JL. I’m grateful that those making such comments are the team owners.
December 26th, 2022 at 2:44 pm
@ adam
Health science has come a long ways….but also “back in the days”….they players had total disregard for the longevity of their bodies. Now in today’s NFL….they actually care about player safety and life after football. We’ve all heard the stories of broken NFL players after they leave the game. I dunno why fans think these players are invincible to longterm affects of injuries because they aren’t
December 26th, 2022 at 2:50 pm
@TheBucsAnthem:
yeah, no i know…guys back then beat themselves up until they had no knees left…
the game has come a long way since then, in those aspects
#YeahNo #NoYes 🙂
December 26th, 2022 at 2:54 pm
They both need to play if they win the game they don’t have to play against Atlanta and have a week after that to get ready for Dallas enough time to get healthy. Smith is a mental midget, cost his team victory is soft. Wirfs is really injured, but will gut it out. it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize need to go fast , real fast the entire game. JC Horn broke his wrist , should be someone open u would think? We all know left BL wont scheme anyone open. It’s time for these guys to start winning some routes. Brady needs to be more accurate
December 26th, 2022 at 2:57 pm
we def need wirfs much more this week than x-mas night vs the cards…
hopefully he rests up all week and can go…and sit him vs atlanta…
what a season for the o-line — we lose both stinnie and wells…our go to guys that created depth everywhere…and hainsey…
we really had depth last spring — now completely decimated…
well now it is “goedeke time”
hopefully he can raise up his game big time because he’s been watching and learning for a minute now…and he should be somewhat fresh too…
tom must be muttering to himself about how this happened to his oline this year — at 45 — when he needs them the most
December 26th, 2022 at 3:05 pm
….are NOT the team owners.
December 26th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
@Bojim
I know that would never happen. I wasn’t being serious. Duh. SMH.
December 26th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
2xTE and LF will get it done. WR gotta get open fast.
December 26th, 2022 at 3:23 pm
cant see how the bucs can be favored? the injuries on both lines are ridiculous. Panthers are stout and healthy on both. im looking at panthers winning 28-10.
December 26th, 2022 at 3:24 pm
poor bucs defense, they are going to get run over sunday.. sucks time for the rebuild.. lets trade a 3rd for zach wilson and see if a change of scenery may help him?
December 26th, 2022 at 3:32 pm
Donovan needs to play…yet somewhat haves The Bucs over a barrel. Donovan is also proving Doosh right…which is hard to admit/type.
December 26th, 2022 at 4:21 pm
Maybe we can have Bowels & Leftwich fill in for Donovan & Wirfs if they’re not gonna play. Then they can get carried off & we can get Arians or Brady to take full control after that.
December 26th, 2022 at 6:04 pm
@adam from ny
My theory about the high rate of injuries in this era is that the players are all bigger and faster. That makes for collisions with much higher energy which is absorbed by the body.
December 26th, 2022 at 6:23 pm
I cannot believe the audacity of some of you to suggest Jason Licht has done anything other than a very good job – at worst – of stocking this team with talent. Yeah, he should’ve somehow been the only GM in the league with 9 pro-bowl OL on the roster. You guys don’t seem to realize the difficulty of putting together a starting 5, let alone any backups / depth at all. Nobody in the league would be able to replace their top 3 tackles without a MASSIVE drop off. That’s just impossible.
Smith and Wirfs are injured. You can’t just shoot some painkillers and be good. Not to mention toradol use itself can be a massive problem waiting to happen. It’s not a trivial thing.
December 26th, 2022 at 6:55 pm
Goedeke actually played RT in college. Anyhow we only have one more tackle after Walton, Justin Skule
December 26th, 2022 at 7:21 pm
Playoffs are on the line. Offseason is around the corner. Shoot up with painkillers like a big boy and get the farkin job done!
December 26th, 2022 at 9:33 pm
Two more patches fall off of the patchwork OL. And people wonder why Brady is skittish and throwing poorly-timed passes, and our slow-mo RBs, Leonard and Rachaad, can’t run?
December 26th, 2022 at 10:31 pm
Stadium won’t be sold out Sunday. Panthers fans are traveling in the thousands to this game. Save your $300-$500, Panthers will roll to clinch division. Owners failed to make change in November and are failures for this horrible decision.
December 26th, 2022 at 10:33 pm
Get these snowflakes some icy hot!
December 26th, 2022 at 11:21 pm
Brady recruited the guys that Licht signed.
That was a total BS post. Brady brought guys in not Licht.
Where’s Licht now? Hiding. Loser.
December 26th, 2022 at 11:31 pm
brady need to start running