5 Buccaneers who deserve blame after 27-20 loss to Colts
By Josh Hill
Tristan Wirfs, LT
There's never a good time to have a bad game, but Tristan Wirfs picked a brutal time to have the worst performance of his career.
That's what happened on Sunday in Indy, as the All-Pro tackle looked anything but as the Bucs offensive line collapsed. It was far from a perfect day for anyone on the offensive line, with Aaron Stinne contributing in all the wrong ways early to help dig the Bucs into a 17-3 hole.
Stinne had a brutal holding penalty that wiped out a great run by Rachaad White, which is something of a pattern for the Bucs. While the run game has struggled to do anything this year, when it has managed to rip off something impressive it usually comes back on a holding penalty. That happened with Stinne, and while it was frustrating to watch it wasn't the most fatal mistake made.
That was made by Wirfs.
While trying to mount a comeback drive, Baker Mayfield was strip-sacked by Samson Ebukam which ended any hope the Bucs had of winning the game. It was a back-breaking mistake and it was made by Wirfs, who allowed Ebukam to get around him on the corner and hit Mayfield to force the game-sealing turnover.
That also wasn't the first sack that Wirfs allowed, but it was by far the worst play he made in a day that was uncharacteristically poor. Wirfs is playing with an injury which is no doubt contributing to things but when your best player plays as badly as he did against the Colts, it's usually not going to be a good day.