Tristan Wirfs And His Sprained Ankle
December 17th, 2023
Playing through pain.
When Tristan Wirfs had a high ankle sprain earlier in the year, he got a lot of sympathy from a guy who would know.
Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles took to his podcast when Wirfs got hurt, and has repeated this line each week since, that he too once had a high ankle sprain and it is one of the most painful, nagging injuries an offensive lineman can have.
Beckles is a big Wirfs fan (who isn’t?) and weekly gives Wirfs props for gutting out the injury. Beckles said the only way to get rid of a high ankle sprain is to get off your feet for weeks. Sadly, that’s not appropriate for an offensive lineman in December.
Last week, Joe asked Wirfs if Beckles is right, that high ankle sprains don’t go away. Wirfs said Beckles was spot on. You just have to learn how to deal with and play through the pain.
“They’re tough [injuries],” Wirfs said while admitting he has dealt with high ankle sprains in both legs before. “I know it’s going to happen. I did the same thing against the 49ers.”
As for how he deals with it, Wirfs said he “stays on top of it as much as I can and get to feel as good as I can” with treatments.
“That’s part of the game,” Wirfs said. “Everybody in [the locker room] is dealing with something.
“Yeah, ankles stink.”
It’s interesting to Joe that right when it appears the Bucs run game has some life, part of the reason is because Wirfs is toughing it out.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:50 am
Translation: he’s getting injected to num the pain every game. That’s got to be a hard thing to do in it self but Wirfs is a warrior. Hey Joe I asked this question earlier and I’m really curious that maybe the Joes could get Beckles to work for JBF and do a podcast with you guy’s
December 17th, 2023 at 2:52 am
More Buckless?
Geez!
Go Bucs!
December 17th, 2023 at 6:22 am
This just makes me more of a Wirfs fan. The guys an All Pro on both ends of the line.
December 17th, 2023 at 6:34 am
Maybe some of the other guys on the team should learn how to tough it out instead of living on the injured list. You have your warriors and then you have your wusses.
December 17th, 2023 at 9:18 am
My late MIL was a huge, and very knowledgeable, NFL/Bucs fan. She used to tell me about watching the Steelers during the Bradshaw Era. She said they would cart/carry his butt off the field like he was DOA ( no, not DrunkOA, Dead OA). Next thing you knew he was bouncing right back on the field a few minutes later. “He got a shot, ” she said. I had to laugh. Good memory.
December 17th, 2023 at 11:06 am
Some reason?
If we didn’t have Wirfs, we wouldn’t win a game.
We need to draft another young swing tackle next year.
Backup tackles are THE most important backup in the roster besides a QB.
If you have horrible backup tackles, and you lose a starting tackle, you have no chance of winning.
The opposing team will destroy your QB.
Invest in a solid backup swing tackle.
I think Feiler has RT experience by the way.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:01 pm
It’s good(?) to hear this. I suspected it all along, but it’s good to get confirmation. Because Wirfs has not been playing like himself for a while now. Glad that it’s that and not him struggling on the left side. He’s given up some uncharacteristic one on one clean pressures that I would never expect him to. We can only hope it doesn’t get woese at any point.