Buccaneers Round Table: Is T.J. Ward right about his comments?

Philip Schwegler

Certain players feel that speaking out about problems on the team to the media can somehow send the message across to the right people to fix it. In T.J. Wards defense, I agree with him. Yes, he shouldn’t have brought the issues he was having up with the media, but rather through the correct channels of leadership.

The defense is playing very bad at the moment. We’ve seen them get their butts handed to team on three separate occasions this year. T.J. Ward believes he was signed to the team to bring a certain type of edge that the Bucs haven’t had in the defensive backfield since Lynch and Barber were there.

Why shouldn’t he play more than 35% of the snaps? It couldn’t hurt the defense at all. Ward seems to be the type of player that needs reps to get into what he’s being asked to do. If there’s a learning curve that he’s not getting, then he should be given the chance to work it out. At this point the defense can only do better with him out their full time.

On the other hand, when looking at Chris Baker’s comments, I believe he feels the same way Ward does. Ward is big name player that has played on one of the best defenses in the past 10 years. Baker showing Ward support in his recent comments can be either negative or positive, depending on how it effects the locker room.

The most important point that needs to be brought into consideration is not allowing the locker room to divide. With a 2-4 record, the Buccaneers need to have peace within the organization. I say let Ward play all the snaps he wants unless he does something so horrible that he deserves to be a rotational player.