-Pro Bowl voting on social media is coming to an end as of 11:59 p.m. ET on December 17. From now until then you can get double the votes for your favorite player with every retweet on Twitter. If you haven't already done it, you can just retweet my tweets below.
There are quite a few deserving candidates from your Buccaneers. Just ask Head Coach Bruce Arians:
"A bunch," said Arians when asked which of his players were deserving of Pro Bowl honors this year. "I wouldn't even know where to start. Defensively, obviously JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul), [Ndamukong] Suh, Shaq [Barrett], Devin [White], Carlton [Davis III]. Offensively, I think Tom [Brady] has had a Pro Bowl year. A bunch of guys – Ronald Jones, guards, tackles – whoever the fans want. We've got a bunch of good guys playing really, really well."
One of those guys who has been playing 'really, really' well is cornerback Carlton Davis, who expressed confidence in himself and his performance so far this year during media availability on Wednesday. And while he oozed confidence in himself, he gushed even more about the players around him – more specifically, in front of him.
"It's a corner's dream to play [with] guys who really know how to rush the passer," Davis said about the Bucs' pass rushers Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, who between them have 45.5 sacks over the past two seasons, which ranks second in the league for a duo in that span. "Having those guys on our edge definitely gives you confidence on the back end when you're covering because you know the quarterback doesn't have long before he has to get the ball out. I love playing with those guys."
Barrett and JPP aren't just helping the guys on their side of the ball either. They helped introduce rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs to the league way back in training camp.
"Yeah, that was awesome getting to go against guys like that, especially when I was still early in camp," said Wirfs on Wednesday. "I hadn't seen anybody else really, but seeing how slippery Shaq is and JPP – he's a seasoned vet – it's awesome. He's crazy good. Getting to go against guys like that was really helpful."
And now, he's playing at a Pro Bowl level according not only to Arians, who said as much this week, but also Assistant Head Coach and Run-Game Coordinator Harold Goodwin, who spoke with reporters on Wednesday.
"I would say he's probably exceeded our expectations, especially for a rookie," said Goodwin of Wirfs. "To go up to get him was big by our GM and our owners to allow that to happen. It's huge because it would be tough to say where we would be today without him. Right now, you can't imagine life without him. It's been great. To me personally, he should be a Pro Bowl player. The way he's played, the way he's produced week in and week out, the pass rushers he's seen – he should be an All-Pro in my opinion. Hopefully we don't screw him up and he can continue to play that way. I like him a lot [and] I'm glad we got him."
-So do it. Vote your favorite Bucs into the Pro Bowl NOW.
-The Buccaneers also announced this year's winners of the General H Norman Schwarzkopf awards, given to military families from each branch of service in coordination with the Central Florida USO. Usually, the awards take place at AdventHealth Training Center, with Buccaneers players with military ties on hand to help honor each of the individual families. In the sixth year of the awards, the Buccaneers instead held the event virtually, presenting each family with a gift bundle as well as a message from center Ryan Jensen.
"Coming from a military family myself, I have the utmost respect for your commitment to our country and for the many sacrifices that are made, day-in and day-out, by the entire family," said Jensen.
Added Brenda Schwarzkopf, wife of the late H Norman,"I speak for my husband when I say, 'Job well done and thank you for your service.'"
Honorees were nominated by the Central Florida USO for demonstrating the values of integrity, courage, commitment and service before self while sharing in the sacrifices for our country.
Bucs Tweet of the Day:
