![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Wirfsrightfield.png\")
Joe hears fans of various kinds acting like the sky is falling because All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs had knee surgery and might miss a game or two or four to start the season.<\/p>\n\t\t\tA No-Worries Injury To Tristan Wirfs
\nJuly 12th, 2025 <\/p>\n
Joe hears fans of various kinds acting like the sky is falling because All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs had knee surgery and might miss a game or two or four to start the season.<\/p>\n
Some of these folks are even shaving a game or two off their Bucs\u2019 season-win-total predictions. Relax, people! Joe\u2019s not freaking out.<\/p>\n
First, Wirfs missing time has come to be expected. Second, Joe has no reason to believe veteran backup Charlie Heck is a stiff the likes of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. The Bucs have two months to coach up Heck and acclimate him to a great unit \u2014 after he attended the Bucs\u2019 spring program and worked with the first team while Wirfs sat out.<\/p>\n
Anyone remember journeyman Josh Wells starting four games at tackle (left and right) during the 2021 season, when the Bucs\u2019 offense was legendary?<\/p>\n
It happens. Backups play. There\u2019s no rule that says they have to suck.<\/p>\n
Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week, Christian Fauria, the 13-year tight end who was one of Tom Brady\u2019s targets for years, talked about the Wirfs injury and sort of scoffed at its signficance to the Bucs.<\/p>\n
The real issue, Fauria explained, is when multiple injuries occur on an offensive line. He made the point that a strong offense can handle one starting O-lineman going down but it\u2019s rare for a team to keep rolling with two or three guys down. He also noted the Bucs have plenty of time to practice and plan for Wirfs\u2019 absence, and that Heck is \u201cmore than capable\u201d of a decent showing.<\/p>\n
Again, Joe is not concerned. But if Cody Mauch\u2019s back stiffens up in training camp and Graham Barton is all of a sudden on the Week 1 injury report with a hamstring tweak, well, yeah, then you might find Joe pacing the aisles of Whole Foods looking for herbal healings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A No-Worries Injury To Tristan Wirfs July 12th, 2025 Joe hears fans of various kinds acting like the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":61543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[3529,3527,1232,62,3528,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-61542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-bucs-message-boards","9":"tag-bucs-news","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114844470072044605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}