Center Graham Barton lifts Tristan Wirfs to celebrate the left tackle's first NFL touchdown on a 2-yard pass against the Cardinals in Tampa Bay's 20-17 victory on Sunday. ©Jefferee WooJohn Romano, Sports ColumnistMon, December 1, 2025 at 12:01 AM UTC·5 min readIt is a riddle that has befuddled philosophers and scholars throughout the ages:
How does one go about hiding a 345-pound man?
It’s not sorcery, and it’s not an optical illusion. You can’t use curtains, smoke, trap doors or special effects. In the end, there is only one surefire way to pull off such an audacious sleight of hand on a football field with 22 players, seven game officials and 61,103 people in the bleachers.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementYou hide in plain sight.
Which explains how Tristan Wirfs came to score a touchdown on Sunday.
The Bucs left tackle caught a 2-yard pass from Baker Mayfield in the second quarter of a 20-17 win against the Cardinals, and offensive linemen everywhere bowed their heads in appreciation and solidarity.
Simeon Rice takes his place in the Bucs’ Ring of Honor
“A little nervous, to be honest,” said Wirfs, when describing what he felt when Mayfield called the play in the huddle. “I didn’t think I would be. Then you hear the formation and you’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’”
The play had been in the works for several weeks, ever since Wirfs brought up the idea of scoring a touchdown. The subject had originally been broached in a lighthearted exchange with reporters about whether Wirfs would ever get a chance to carry the ball.
Turns out, offensive line coach Brian Picucci had once been involved in a play with similar intentions so offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard went about designing a formation that would fit Tampa Bay’s circumstances. The play was called The Anchor Bar, a nod to a favorite tavern on Davis Islands
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTo set the stage:
The Bucs had a third and goal from the 2 with 1:39 remaining in the first half. Two plays earlier, Bucky Irving had seemingly scored on a 1-yard run but the touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty on tight end Payne Durham.
“Gotta give a shoutout to Payne,” Wirfs yelled in the locker room while Durham grinned nearby. “It was his holding call. I don’t think it would have happened without that.”
Buy FIRE THE CANNONS: 50 Years of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Football
The concept behind the play is to convince the defense they’re seeing a formation that looks completely natural in a goal-line situation. So backup tackle Charlie Heck entered the game and lined up between right tackle Luke Goedeke and Durham. Along with guard Dan Feeney, that put four big-bodied players on the right side of the line, giving the appearance that Tampa Bay was planning to run in that direction.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, Wirfs informed the referee that he would be an eligible receiver and the Cardinals were notified. And that’s the beauty of bringing Heck onto the field at that moment. The Cardinals heard about a tackle-eligible player and apparently assumed it was Heck entering the game.
“(The officials) say No. 78 reports as eligible, but it all happens really quick so you’ve got to be paying attention,” Heck said. “They see a new body coming in, like myself, who has lined up like a tight end before and they hear No. 70-something and they just assume, ‘It must be this guy.’ You’ve got to be in tune for that.”
Bringing Heck in was not the only misdirection.
Tight end Cade Otton lined up slightly behind and to the left of Wirfs. He went in motion before the snap, which caused a linebacker to start drifting toward Mayfield’s right. And then, when the ball was snapped, Wirfs put a half-hearted block on edge rusher Zaven Collins, who ran past him toward Mayfield who was positioned as if he was throwing to Otton or Durham in the right corner.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat left Wirfs alone on the left side when safety Budda Baker opted to double team Emeka Egbuka, who was running a crossing pattern over the middle.
“When you get into those heavy personnel (groupings), generally teams match it with their goal-line defense, and the vast majority of those are man-coverage looks,” said Grizzard. “They don’t normally guard the tackle in man coverage so it was exactly what we wanted on it. He made a hell of a job selling it on the block because if he doesn’t sell that, then (Collins) is not going to rush.”
Wirfs, whose last touchdown was on a blocked punt in high school, said he was accustomed to Mayfield throwing him softer passes when they practiced the play.
“It was crazy, all week he was giving me floaters and he kind of threw me a bullet,” Wirfs said. “I was kind of nervous. I was just like, ‘Don’t drop it.’”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Budda Baker was on the backside there so I kind of had to put a little mustard on it,” Mayfield explained.
The offensive line had been talking during the week about how they might celebrate a Wirfs touchdown. They talked about a choreographed extravaganza but it all deteriorated in the excitement of the moment.
Instead, Wirfs began to leap into Graham Barton’s arms and the Bucs center lifted him several feet off the ground.
“Definitely heavier than lifting some of the receivers,” Barton said.
This wasn’t the first case of a 300-pounder catching a touchdown pass in Tampa Bay. Warren Sapp had a couple. Tackle Donald Penn had a pair, too. The last time was when Vita Vea lined up in the backfield in 2019.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSo could this be part of a trend? Is there a niche for 345-pound receivers? Apparently, Wirfs thinks so because he was lobbying head coach Todd Bowles for a tight end’s number
“As soon as (Wirfs) came off the field, he asked me for No. 87,” Bowles said.
“Had Payne not caught a ball (on Sunday), I would’ve considered it.”
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
