Antoine Winfield Jr. could certainly let his play do the talking after making seven tackles last game with an all-time effort play of forcing a fumble that led to a touchback for the Bucs. But Winfield felt compelled to do some talking as well after the Bucs lost to the Falcons 16-13 in a game they should have won.

Winfield is a first-year team captain who has earned the respect of everybody in the locker room. He is better known for being a leader by example as a top player on Tampa Bay’s defense. This time around, Antoine Winfield Jr. wanted to get something off his chest that he felt after the Bucs let one slip away.

Antoine Winfield Jr. Discusses His Speech To The Bucs

Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. and Falcons QB Desmond Ridder – Photo by: USA Today

“Just that we got to close those games out,” Antoine Winfield Jr. told the media on Wednesday. “We got to play better, we got to win those close games like that. That would pretty much summarize it. I feel like I’m a man of few words, but when I say something, I really mean it.”

It was actually quarterback Baker Mayfield who first tipped us off to Winfield addressing the team. Mayfield went into a little more detail about what the message was.

“Antoine Winfield hit the nail on the head after the game,” Mayfield said. “Just how great do you want to be? We have a ton of leaders on the team. A lot of guys that have played a lot of ball, so let’s just do our jobs and see where this thing goes. He’s a key leader that obviously, a ton of big plays in that game and has been consistently obviously here for a while. Those guys we have to lean on, follow that leadership and everybody else has to fall in line.”

Fellow Team Captain Chimes In

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Another great player on this team in his own right is left tackle Tristan Wirfs. The duo of Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr. already share common ground coming from the same 2020 NFL Draft class of the Bucs as their first two picks. Much like Winfield, this is also Wirfs’ first year as a team captain as well.

Wirfs knew how important it was to hear from Winfield. It’s obvious how much the whole team holds him in such high regard.

“Antoine pretty much told us how good do we want to be?” Wirfs said. “It’s up to us to write our own story. Our destiny is in front of us, we got to go out and take it. But it’s up to us, up to the guys in the locker room. It was really coming from Antoine, we all know how incredible of a player he is. That play he made on the goal line was insane. Coming from him, everybody listens, all eyes are on him. It was really cool.”

What it also was, was a morale booster. And the timing of the speech made him really respect it.

“I think so,” Wirfs said. “You got a real bitter taste in your mouth especially coming right off the field into the locker room. Standing up and being like ‘Hey, listen up.’ And saying that was really huge.