Tristan Wirfs did not look like himself in the Buccaneers' season opener against Cincinnati. When a player has established the standard Wirfs has, even one rough performance is going to stand out. Three weeks into the season, however, Week 1 is starting to look much more like an outlier than something Tampa Bay should actually worry about, and Wirfs has responded with two much stronger performances in pass protection.
The turnaround really started against Cleveland. Wirfs was matched up with Jared Verse for 13 meaningful one-on-one pass-rushing snaps and won all 13, according to offensive line analyst Brandon Thorn. PFF credited Wirfs with allowing only one pressure across 44 pass blocking snaps while giving him an 81.1 pass blocking grade. That
performance set up another difficult challenge against Minnesota. Dallas Turner entered Week 3 leading the NFL with 20 pressures and eight quarterback hits. Through the first two games, Wirfs had already worked his way back to an 83.2 pass blocking grade, fifth among qualified tackles, while allowing only three pressures.
Minnesota ultimately sacked Baker Mayfield six times, but the problems were not coming from Wirfs consistently losing on the left side. That distinction matters when evaluating an offensive line that has taken plenty of criticism through Tampa Bay’s 0-3 start. The protection as a whole has struggled, particularly when pressure gets through the interior, but Wirfs has settled back into being the player the Bucs expect him to be. It also shows why there was never much reason to panic after Cincinnati. Wirfs has built his career on consistency. He has been selected to five Pro Bowls and became the first player in NFL history to earn first-team All-Pro honors at both right tackle and left tackle. When his Week 1 performance fell below that standard, it was unusual. The Bucs still have serious problems to solve along the offensive line. Penalties, communication, and interior pressure have repeatedly stalled the offense, and Mayfield has already taken far too much punishment, but Wirfs does not appear to be one of those problems and instead may be the only sure thing on the offense right now.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Bucs star Tristan Wirfs is back to dominating the trenches
