TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) - Since he entered the league in 2020, Bucs offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs has said many times, "There’s two things you can control: your attitude and your effort." That saying has become woven into the identity of this team and is something they take a lot of pride in.
“It’s cheesy but it’s two things you can take care of,” Wirfs said. “We can all come out flying around and with a good mentality and good mindset.”
“That’s something really cool that Tristan [Wirfs] kind of instills in us,” said Bucs offensive lineman Cody Mauch. “It’s true. There’s a lot of things in football you can’t control so why worry about those things? Just control the things that you can control—and it’s those two things—attitude and effort. As an offensive lineman, you never want to be questioned about your effort and especially your attitude. They kind of go hand in hand. Kind of taking that message and it’s really true.”
“Oh it’s huge,” said Bucs Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales. “I think that’s the greatest way to keep things simple and keep the focus really clean of things that we can actually worry about—that we can actually have an impact and an effect on. It helped us through a four-game losing streak. It helped us through a four-game winning streak as well.”
Through the ups and the downs, those characteristics have shown up all season, and throughout the locker room. The most recent example is wide receivers David Moore and Trey Palmer coming up with huge touchdown plays against the Eagles when they were called upon. The reliability and depth, gave Canales even more to work with in the play-calling department.
“Yeah, it’s deadly, right?” Canales responded. “Because everybody’s going to try to tilt something to Mike [Evans]. They’re going to try to put an extra safety over there or have a [line]backer kind of play inside and take some things away. So that whole other side of the field—make them defend all the grass.”
“We’ve got a lot of weapons in the room,” Moore said. “When we use them all, we can be real dangerous. Being on the field with C.G. (Chris Godwin) and Mike [Evans] it kind of takes the pressure off of the other person that’s in there with them.”
This marks the third time in the past four seasons that the Bucs have made it to the Divisional Round, with their last time advancing past this point, being their Super Bowl year in 2020. Since that season, the Bucs have the second-most playoff wins with six, behind the Kansas City Chiefs who have eight.