Good on good. Everyone loves to see it. The NFL is all about the best-of-the-best facing off against each other to see which super athlete is truly at the pinnacle of the sport. In tomorrow’s Bucs vs. Panthers matchup NFL fans have the chance to see just such a matchup. But will they?

Bucs right tackle Tristan Wirfs has publicly announced that he will be suiting up and playing on Sunday despite re-aggravating an ankle sprain injury last week against Arizona. Wirfs is undoubtedly one of the five best offensive tackles in the game, and comfortably in the argument for top-two among right tackles with Philadelphia’s Lane Johnson. The Panthers feature on the defensive side of the ball one of the most exciting young pass rushers in the game in the form of Brian Burns. Burns vs Wirfs is exactly the type of matchup fans spend their hard-earned dollars to watch. It was a matchup recently spoken about by Jared Feinberg of Cat Scratch Blog during an appearance on the Pewter Report Podcast.

But will the fans get what they came for? If the first matchup between these two teams is any indication, the answer might be no. During the two teams’ week seven matchup Burns played the majority of his snaps on the right side of the defense lined up against Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith. Panthers head coach Steve Wilks (making his first appearance in that role with the team) opted to keep Burns on the right side 51 times as compared to only 12 times on the left.

This isn’t a completely out-of-the-box thing for the Panthers to do with Burns either. For the season he

Panthers DE Brian Burns – Photo by: Getty Images

has taken 546 of his 854 snaps lined up as a right defensive end or right outside linebacker per Pro Football Focus. This amounts to 64% of his total snaps. Conversely, he has lined up on the left side 304 times or about 36% of the time.

For the game neither player had a standout performance from a grading perspective. Burns posted a PFF defensive grade of 64.4 with a strong mark in run defense (81.2) and a rather pedestrian pass rush grade of 57.9. He recorded four pressures on 45 pass rush snaps and had a sack of Bucs quarterback Tom Brady while rushing against Smith.

Meanwhile Wirfs had his second-lowest graded game of the season (behind his injury-plagued outing against Arizona) with a 65.8 overall grade. He still posted high marks in pass protection though grading out with a very high-level 84.1 score in that area.

Even though the two of them did not line up against each other very often they still had a couple of reps that were fun to watch.

Bucs RT Wirfs Is Not Afraid Of Burns

Burns’ 6-foot-5 frame, and lightning quick speed are a formidable match for any offensive tackle. But Wirfs is a physical specimen in and of himself. This led to the Bucs offensive tackle not being afraid of Burns’ physical attack.

You can see Burns tries to use a wide-nine alignment to give him plenty of runway to build his speed to maximum velocity before transferring it through his long arms into Wirfs’ core. But Wirfs is able to counter with a strong base and great leg stance to take the initial punch and quickly reset to stone Burns in his tracks.

If Speed-To-Power Doesn’t Work, How About Just Speed?

Later in the game, having seen he couldn’t just drive through Wirfs, Burns attempted to use his quick feet to get around him.  The results were much the same.

Wirfs wasn’t fooled by the stutter to the inside, stayed with Burns to the eventual outside move, got a hand into Burns’ chest and kept him out of the play entirely.

The Two Are Amazing Competitors

Little commentary here. Just watch the struggle. Move. Counter. Counter again.

Burns Won The Cat-And-Mouse Game Once

Sometimes in football you win with talent. And sometimes you win with brains. And in their first matchup Burns was able to get the best of Wirfs when he unexpectedly jumped inside a Bucs run play that left the All-Pro Wirfs scrambling to get a hat on him.

Burns catches Wirfs off guard immediately with the inside move and forces Wirfs to try to work back to get a hat on him until center Robert Hainsey can pull across in an attempt to wipe Burns down the line with the flow of the run. None of this works as Burns is too quick. He immediately penetrates the line, locates running back Rachaad White and blows up the play for a six-yard loss.

Here’s To Hoping This Matchup Lives Up To The Billing In Round Two

As mentioned prior, Wirfs is still dealing with an ankle injury that left him looking like a shell of himself last week. And while he is the ultimate competitor and going to play it is anyone’s guess how effective he will be as compared to the normal All-Pro level people come to expect of him. Burns doesn’t need much of an advantage to take over a game and the Bucs need to be cognizant of that.

Given that Smith is also dealing with an injury look for Burns to continue to get about a 2-1 time share in terms of right-to-left side of the field. But look out for the dozen or so snaps where these two titans will match up. Because is it fun to watch.