In four NFL seasons, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. has established himself as a quiet star with the Buccaneers, but after Sunday’s lackluster loss to the Falcons, Winfield delivered a very loud message to his teammates.
The message: How great do we want to be?
“Antoine Winfield hit it on the head after the game … ‘How great do you want to be?’” quarterback Baker Mayfield said on Tuesday. “We have a ton of leaders on this team, a lot of guys that have played a ton of ball so let’s do our jobs first and see where this thing goes.”
The Bucs have not been so great lately, with back-to-back losses against the Lions and Falcons. The loss to Atlanta was especially disheartening because Tampa notched just 13 points offensively and continued their woeful performance in the red zone, with no touchdowns on two attempts, running the Bucs to 2-for-6 on red zone TDs, third-worst in the NFL.
There is not much time to dwell on that showing, though. The Bucs play the Bills—coming off a shocking loss to New England—Thursday night.
‘Got to Close Those Games Out’
Winfield was not out of line in speaking to the team after Sunday’s loss. He was one of the few standouts from the game, and the forced fumble he had on Atlanta’s Desmond Ridder as Ridder appeared to have a touchdown with 6:30 to play in the game nearly rescued the game for Tampa. It was a hustle play all the way, the kind that the Bucs have done enough.
HUGE. @AntoineWJr11 knocks the ball loose to make it a touchback. Bucs take over.
📺: #ATLvsTB on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus t.co/iTs8HMaXlh
“Yeah, just that we’ve got to close those games out,” Winfield said. “We’ve got to play better, and we’ve got to win those close games like that, to summarize it. We’ve just got to find a way to win.”
Winfield was asked if he thought his message landed, if the team took it well.
“Yeah, everybody took it well,” he said. “We’re all trying to win here. We’re all professionals. I just felt like it needed to be said and so I just said what I said.”
Given how he played on Sunday– Winfield finished the game with seven combined tackles, one pass breakup and one forced fumble—and given the fact that he normally is not a vocal leader, the hope is that Winfield’s words can spur a turnaround.
“I feel like I’m a man of a few words, but when I say something, I really mean it.”
Buccaneers Got Antoine Winfield’s Message
Fellow Bucs star Tristan Wirfs did think that having a message like that come from a normally quiet star player like Antoine Winfield will hit teammates differently. It probably needs to hit the offense, which has been struggling, especially hard.
“’Toine pretty much told us, ‘How good do we want to be?’ It’s up to us to write our own story. Our destiny is in front of us and have to go out and take it,” Wirfs said. “It’s up to us, it’s up to the guys in this locker room, and it’s really cool coming from ‘Toine. We all know what an incredible player he is. You know, that play he made on the goal line, that’s insane.
“Coming from him, everyone listens, all eyes are on him, [and] it was really cool.”
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Frustrated Bucs Star Sends Strong Message to Teammates