Todd Bowles: “This Is Not A Murder Mystery”
July 23rd, 2025
Left tackle Tristan Wirfs mingles with fans and teammates en route to the Bucs’ locker room Wednesday after Day 1 of training camp.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles has to know these questions were coming. Still, he didn’t like it.
The questions? Along the lines of, “What did you know about Tristan Wirfs’ injury and when did you know it?”
And Bowles did not like it.
As Bowles explained Monday in an exclusive sitdown with the Sage of Tampa Bay sports Ira Kaufman and JoeBucsFan.com, the Bucs’ medical staff tried to help Wirfs rehab a knee injury suffered last year without needing to go under the knife.
The rehab didn’t work (or work well enough) and the healing wasn’t perfect, so Wirfs decided to get it over with and have surgery. Bowles told Joe and Ira that Wirfs could be out one, two or three games. He did seem upbeat as one can be, though.
“It didn’t heal,” Bowles repeated today of Wirfs’ knee. “It had to be done.”
“This is not a murder mystery where we need to find out what happened – it’s about him getting better.”
As far as Bowles is concerned, the matter is closed and Bowles and the Bucs are just waiting for Wirfs to get medical clearance to begin practicing or playing.
“He’s in great spirits,” Bowles said of Wirfs. “I’ve kind of spoken on it already, and that’s where I’m at.”
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:18 pm
this has my Peter excited
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:33 pm
It doesn’t take much, huh, Mr Riddle?
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:34 pm
It’s not a murder mystery but it could be a major issue if he does miss 3 or 4 games. Without him the entire offense could and most likely will be disrupted big time. I’m disgusted this is how it played out with so much on the line this year.
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:36 pm
great spirits…starting to dislike that phrase
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:46 pm
You would have thought there would’ve been a concrete timeline in place to avoid missing any games, i.e. if his knee wasn’t healed by X date, get the surgery.
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:52 pm
WOW. If it’s not someone talking “Bowles stinks” then it’s one Peter talking to another. Does that mean they cancel each other out then they get “petered out”? HMMMMM
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:59 pm
We’re on to Atlanta
July 23rd, 2025 at 4:06 pm
@hearty – 100% correct…there should have been a drop date for final eval…if he sisn’t X by Y date then we do Z. Don’t tell me this wasn’t botched by Licht and the medical staff
July 23rd, 2025 at 4:14 pm
We will get better assessments as Labor Day approaches. Neither Wirfs nor Godwin are going to take a snap until long about then at the very earliest.
Looking at Watson…is he pregnant? He looks worse than ever. Don’t look at me. I’m not the daddy. I was kinda pleased when we signed him. I’d have thought he would have lost at least a few pounds by now. Maybe he wasn’t worth the flier after all. Sad.
July 23rd, 2025 at 4:30 pm
@Bucs4ever, asfer I’d though about it I am starting to believe that the BUCS and Wirfs actually did have a “drop dead” timeline. Here’s why: they did the surgery with about 9 weeks to go till opening day. Typically arthroscopic surgery to clean up a knee takes about 6-8 weeks to heal. Apparently they found something else wrong too or at least what they’re saying. Ergo, we are looking at a few more weeks. I’m not medically trained, but that’s how long players have typically been out after a scope since I was a kid.
July 23rd, 2025 at 5:30 pm
[Stop it! — Joe]
July 23rd, 2025 at 5:37 pm
If Todd has a choice, he will choose wrong.
July 23rd, 2025 at 5:40 pm
Riddler must be posting from Palm Beach.
July 23rd, 2025 at 6:13 pm
Man, it’s like some people here think Bowles, Licht or someone/anyone on the Bucs staff has the power to order a player to have surgery.
July 23rd, 2025 at 6:59 pm
Here’s a few questions for Joe:
1) Do reporters know when coaches are calling them complete idiots? It just happed in case you missed it.
2) Do reporters know when they are asking stupid questions? Do they just have a quota of questions they need to hit?
For some reason reporters have never figured out coaches aren’t doctors and they cannot predict how fast injuries heal. News Flash: No one can.
This is such a dead story. Wirfs is rehabbing. There isn’t any news until he steps onto the practice field. Good thing there are more than 51 other guys to talk about.
July 23rd, 2025 at 7:49 pm
There is no such thing as a “stupid question.” You’re taught that probably first or second day of journalism school. You ask questions to gain information, not to make the interviewee look good. You are thinking of public relations.
No, but coaches surely have information on the injury and you can bet your bottom dollar both the coach and the team’s pro player personnel director ask the medical staff for a range of a timetable because if the guy needs to be replaced, they’ve got to go find a replacement.
And agents of prospective replacements surely want to know a general timetable before they make any decision on whether to sign with a team or not.
Reason why there’s a focus on Wirfs is, don’t you think he’s fairly important to have on the field for the Bucs to win?Don’t think there’s any sort of groundswell from fans for Chris Braswell stories.
July 23rd, 2025 at 10:07 pm
HUH???
How is “out 1, 2, or even 3 games” even an option?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you miss Game 1 of the season on the PUP list aren’t you automatically out for the first 4 games?
July 23rd, 2025 at 10:25 pm
The fact that in that photo Wirfs looks to be putting at least some weight on the leg and isn’t in some huge cast does seem a bit hopeful.
July 23rd, 2025 at 11:17 pm
I worked for a General who said “the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask but you want the answer.”
July 24th, 2025 at 12:06 am
Right on Paratrooper.
July 24th, 2025 at 12:06 am
I never get why the question isn’t what was the actual surgery that was completed on Tristen Wirfs.
July 24th, 2025 at 6:39 am
I don’t blame Bowles at all for being short with the media. This blame game stuff changes nothing and helps no one. We got an All Pro rehabing a knee. End of story. Lets see how Heck does with our dudes. My bet is Wirfs will be helping Heck with the fine points.
Go Bucs!
July 24th, 2025 at 8:04 am
Paratrooper gets it. Looking for information, not necessarily how the question sounds.
July 24th, 2025 at 11:13 am
After Jensen-“Gate”, I think some fans were fearing a Wirfs-“Gate.”
Glad Bowles put the issue to bed. (And no snarky comments from you, Riddle. LOL).