It almost feels like the Buccaneers need Tristan Wirfs to beat the Rams on Sunday, but they will need to plan on being without their young star at this rate.
Buccaneers fans around the football world rejoiced when they found out that Tristan Wirfs was back at practice ahead of the pivotal playoff matchup versus the Rams, but they may be ahead of themselves for a bit.
In life, and football especially, preparing for the worst and tempering expectations is always important. Otherwise, you are just setting yourself up for one personal disappointment after another.
Wirfs was back at practice, but the optimism from those involved is not high that Wirfs will be back to stifling opposing pass rushers.
See why I believe @Buccaneers ProBowl RT #TristanWirfs will not play in Divisional Round vs @RamsNFL.https://t.co/CpCkNxsGhf
— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) January 21, 2022
According to reports, Wirfs did not look 100% in practice, and we all saw how bad the decision to play through was against the Eagles last week. Wirfs went from being one of the best tackles in football to getting beaten back on nearly every play, and the possibility of making the injury worse could also ruin future prospects for the franchise.
It’s never easy to accept such an important injury with so much riding on the player to suit up for the biggest game of the season, and the coaching staff playing out the decision only makes this even more difficult.
Regardless, Wirfs is not able to play at a high enough level to move the needle for Tampa in this game as it stands, and Bruce Arians needs to make the right decision to keep his star on the bench to give his team the best chance at winning this game.
It will be a tough game regardless, but Tom Brady will always be the most important part of this offense, and no team is out of contention as long as he is on the field.
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