Buccaneers Star LT Tristan Wirfs is Somehow PFF’s Highest-Graded Pass-Blocker
· Yahoo Sports
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were expected to field one of the NFL’s most dominant offensive lines this season.
Instead, Tampa’s line has been a mess and the biggest of the team’s many disappointments through four games.
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The Bucs have given up 16 sacks so far, the most in the NFL. No other quarterback has been sacked more than the 13 times Baker Mayfield has been dropped, and he didn’t even play in one of Tampa’s four games.
The offensive line’s woes are one of the major reasons for the Bucs’ miserable 0-4 start. The sack total would be much higher if not for Mayfield’s ability to escape pressure.
Mayfield has had to run for his life all season, including on the play where he dislocated his thumb after being hit immediately after getting rid of the ball.
The Bucs’ pass-blocking has been a nightmare, and Tampa’s franchise quarterback is now missing games for the first time in his 3+ seasons with the team because of it.
But if you’re looking for someone to blame, don’t point the finger at star left tackle Tristan Wirfs.
Highest-Graded Pass-Blocker In The NFLDespite the Bucs giving up the most sacks in the league, Wirfs has been PFF’s highest-graded pass-blocker in the NFL.
Wirfs’ 87.5 pass-blocking grade is the best of any offensive lineman in the league, at any position. The next highest grade is 84.2, earned by San Francisco 49ers guard Dominick Puni.
Wirfs has been so good as a pass-blocker that the 3.3-point difference between his and Puni’s grades is larger than the 3.1-point difference between Puni and 10-best Amarius Mims (81.1).
Incredibly Confusing GradePFF’s grade for Wirfs is, admittedly, incredibly confusing.
Per PFF, Wirfs has allowed four pressures and two sacks, and has been called for four penalties so far this season.
That doesn’t seem to indicate a better performance than Mims, who is PFF’s fourth-highest-graded tackle and 10th-highest-graded lineman overall.
According to PFF, Mims has been responsible for only two pressures and one sack, while being flagged twice, exactly half the totals PFF has for Wirfs in all three categories.
Somehow, Wirfs has earned a grade that is 6.4 points higher than Mims.
Go figure.
Final ThoughtsEven though it hasn’t seemed like it over the Bucs' four games, PFF still thinks Wirfs is the best pass-blocker in the NFL.
It may not make sense, but that’s the way it is.
If Tampa is to have any shot at getting its first victory of the season Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys, whom Todd Bowles called the "most physically gifted team” the Bucs will face all year, the offensive line must finally start playing to its potential.
Anchored by Wirfs, the line should be much better than it has been over the season’s first month.
Even if Wirfs has somehow earned the highest pass-blocking grade in the NFL, it hasn’t been nearly enough.