Todd Bowles Says He Won’t Let Tristan Wirfs Run
November 13th, 2023
Most Buccaneers will tell you Tristan Wirfs is the most athletic manbeast they’ve ever seen.
Fans worldwide have seen video of Wirfs jumping out of a swimming pool with the brute strength of a giant kangaroo. Joe got laughs out of hearing other NFL players saying they could do that. Hmmm, somehow their video evidence never appeared.
Yesterday, Wirfs deftly recovered a Baker Mayfield fumble and took off. This was no overweight lineman rumbling down the field.
He was balanced when he scooped the ball off the turf, broke a tackle and then he looked like Rob Gronkowski, dragging a Titans linebacker for five yards.
It didn’t count because NFL rules say an offensive fumble can’t be advanced by another player, but what Wirfs did cannot be erased from Joe’s mind.
Could Wirfs become a backfield option for the Bucs in short-yardage situations?
Head coach Todd Bowles poured cold beer on that idea today during his stidown with WFLA-TV sports chief Dan Lucas.
“No, we’re not onto something. Somebody’s going to have to block for [Wirfs] if he goes to the running backs and I don’t think we have that guy,” Bowles said.
The irony is that the Bucs’ running game is horrid even with Wirfs blocking. Joe still can’t figure out why the Bucs can’t find four yards a carry running left behind Wirfs.
Oh, well. Joe will enjoy the memory of Wirfs carrying the football.
Maybe Bowles will change his mind come playoff time.
November 13th, 2023 at 9:52 pm
How about the Bucs run more screen plays and get RW in open space to make a play. There was an even split of pass and run plays. Why? We can’t run the damn ball. I still don’t get why Canales keeps trying to jam a square peg into a round hole?
November 13th, 2023 at 10:01 pm
The bucs don’t run behind wirfs. Nearly every run seems to be directly up the middle. Bucs gotta change something up with the run if they want different results.
November 13th, 2023 at 10:49 pm
I’ll tell you all one thing. I was SO glad to see so many seats full at Ray Jay. It is great to see supportive fans. GO BUCS!
November 13th, 2023 at 11:23 pm
WOW! After not calling PI on the Bills at the end of the Bucs game – they call that?!?
RIGGED!!!!
November 13th, 2023 at 11:25 pm
Come playoff time, Bowles will probably be fired.
November 13th, 2023 at 11:31 pm
Wow… The Bucs lost to this same Bills team that just got beat by the Broncos, who lost by 50 points to the Dolphins.
But thankfully for the Bucs they beat the Vikings, and the Vikings beat the 49ers, so that means the Bucs will beat the 49ers!
SO EASY WIN ON SUNDAY FOR THE BUCS!
#TEAMPOSITIVE!
November 13th, 2023 at 11:41 pm
Line up Wirfs and Vea in the old school wishbone in goalline then hit Mike Evans on a corner fade. I’d rather see a fat guy TD but this would work.
November 13th, 2023 at 11:49 pm
Or line up in single back shotgun and hand it off to White for a three yard loss. Whatever’s clever.
November 14th, 2023 at 12:20 am
Buffalo with two bone head plays at the end of the game.
Clear PI and then clear 12 men on the field. How weak.
Josh Allen seems like a Jameis Winston that can run.
ATM with running ability.
November 14th, 2023 at 1:08 am
Re: the run game:
1. I still don’t think our players fully understand zone blocking schemes in general
2. I don’t think Canales’ run scheme is very good / deceptive to opposing defenses
3. Even running behind Wirfs, you still a tight end and/or guard blocking next to him to account for other defenders. Our G-C-G lineup and our tight ends just don’t get any push.
That said, Hainsey did throw a nice block to spring Rachaad White on that TD pass. Though I’m pretty sure it was against a DB lol.
Would really like to see us use more screens and bootlegs.
November 14th, 2023 at 4:27 am
Not a running play, how about a pass play? Tackle eligible, done all the time. Wirfs catching a TD is long overdue.
November 14th, 2023 at 5:11 am
Unbelievable … ‘I don’t think Canales’ run scheme is very good / deceptive to opposing defenses’.
I’ll second that one. There doesn’t look to be any deception at all. Far too many wasted run plays IMO.
If you look at Sunday’s play-by-play breakout, Bucs rushed 29 times & passed 29 times. We had 27 total 1st down opportunities; rushed on 14 of those (plus 1 kneeldown), passed on 11 of those (plus took 1 sack on 1st down). So we rushed on 55.6% of our 1st down opportunities, gaining a grand total of 40 yards in those 15 rushes.
That’d result in a 2.7 YPC average on 1st down, but that’d be misleading. One of those 15 runs went for 11 yards & another went for 10 yards, meaning that the other 13 rushes gained only 19 yards … 1.5 YPC average. And that I think is the major problem: we’re wasting precious 1st downs by doing the same thing over and over, setting ourselves up for 2nd-and-long, then very often 3rd-and-long. Hard to consistently convert those with the type of offense we’re running.
BTW, Sunday we had 10 runs on 2nd down for a total of 30 yards. Even that’s misleading though. Of those, 1 went for 9 yards, 1 went for 5 yards, 1 went for 4 yards, 1 went for 3 yards, and 6 went for 2 or less. On the day, 18 of our 29 runs went for 2 yards or less. There’s no consistency there.
November 14th, 2023 at 6:36 am
The Refrigerator 2.0!
November 14th, 2023 at 6:53 am
I think we as fans would love to see Wirfs scoring a touchdown
An innovative coach could find a way to make that happen
November 14th, 2023 at 8:00 am
No!! Way too valuable.
November 14th, 2023 at 8:07 am
Put both Vea and Wirfs in the backfield, Thunder and Thunder. Let one block for the other. Not many linebackers gonna look forward to making that tackle.
November 14th, 2023 at 8:33 am
Missing out on greatness put wirfs and vea in there for the tush push Noone could stop those 2 massive men. Go bucs
November 14th, 2023 at 8:46 am
How about making Otton into a hybrid fullback, and more bootleg options for BM? Hope Canales thinks about it.
November 14th, 2023 at 9:41 am
Otten is a pretty bad blocker. I’ve seen him take bad angles and cut off blocking lanes for his own OL. He’d be a terrible FB.
November 14th, 2023 at 10:47 am
Vea is our best short yardage RB.
November 14th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Vea played RB in high school so let’s line up wirfs and Vea in the backfield
November 14th, 2023 at 9:31 pm
Mauch at FB lead blocking for Wirfs would strike fear in some Linebackers hearts me thinks.
LOL
Go Bucs!
November 15th, 2023 at 6:24 am
We need a fullback. That would help run game
November 15th, 2023 at 9:23 am
Eligible receiver