Insight into Tristan Wirfs’ surgery.
The “Bucs” made a mistake. But who specifically erred is unclear.
That conclusion came from former Bucs defensive tackle and ESPN football analyst Booger McFarland. Recently, McFarland offered his take on Bucs All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs having to undergo surgery on his right knee after setbacks in his rehab occurred this offseason.
Wirfs may miss some games. If he is placed on the PUP list (deadline is August 30), Wirfs will be out a minimum of four games.
“Just to take the fans kind of behind the scenes a little bit, usually when the season is over, you go meet with the head trainer,” Booger explained. “You guys make a decision, ‘Hey, are we going to rest it, or are we going to go ahead and go under the knife and get this thing done?’
“It sounds like they tried to rest it and see if it will respond and he kind of aggravated it during the offseason.”
A lot of Bucs fans are peeved, wondering why the Bucs or Wirfs didn’t make the surgery decision much sooner to avoid possibly missing games. Joe has to believe the Bucs and Wirfs were following the advice of the Bucs’ medical team and training staff.
The Bucs (and each NFL team) pays these guys handsomely for medical advice and guidance. Joe doesn’t expect, after the Bucs medical staff advised Wirfs that specific rehab would likely avoid surgery, that the Bucs would react and say, “Eff this, you’re crazy! We’re bringing in Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine and Dr. Howard.”
The keyword for Joe is “setbacks.” If Wirfs didn’t have these setbacks, we likely wouldn’t be wringing our hands about how many games he may miss.
“The Bucs sound like they may have made a mistake, as far as when and if to do this surgery on Tristan Wirfs,” Booger said.
Did Booger mean the medical staff or Bucs’ shot-callers? Again, if the Bucs don’t trust their medical staff, then why are they on the payroll?
Joe just thinks it is as simple as no one, including Wirfs, expected “setbacks” and that is what likely motivated Wirfs to have surgery and get it over with.
For duty and humanity!