The frustration over a 2-4 start to the 2017 season boiled over in the locker room on Sunday after the Bucs fell to the Buffalo Bills on a last-second field goal. Safety T.J. Ward told reporters he was “at his wit’s end” with Mike Smith’s defense and his lack of playing time. Defensive tackle Chirs Baker chimed in on Twitter later on Sunday, supporting Ward’s postgame quotes.

It didn’t take long on Monday for head coach Dirk Koetter to be asked about Ward’s statements to the media.

“When you lose games and you lose a game that you probably should have won like that, everybody is frustrated,” Koetter said. “It’s just human nature to be frustrated. I didn’t hear him, so all of this is second-hand to me, but everyone is frustrated. I talked to the team about all of our issues [being] self-inflicted right now – the majority of our issues are self-inflicted. We’re the only ones who can fix them. That’s how I handled that.”

Bucs SS T.J. Ward – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Koetter was then asked about the expectations for Ward when the Bucs signed the free agent just prior to the start of the regular season.

“When we signed Chris [Conte] back and we drafted Justin [Evans], we knew that safety was going to be more of a position of depth,” Koetter said. “In T.J.’s case, he missed all of training camp not only with us, but with Denver. Then he’s been hurt the majority of the time since he has been here. I’m sure he is frustrated. Every player wants to be out there the whole time. That’s just part of the game.”

Koetter went on to say that he and his staff likes to let player’s know where they stand. Ward might have had some questions about his playing time prior to the Bills game according to Koetter, although it wasn’t completely clear who initiated the meeting.

“I think it’s different in every case,” Koetter said.T”he players get grades every week and the grades are reflective of how the coaches grade them. I talked to the players today about anybody that is frustrated or has an issue – the best way to take care of an issue on a team is to go to someone who can do something about it. Then I outlined who those people were. The second thing – in T.J. [Ward’s] case ironically enough, I did have a sit-down with T.J. in my office last Thursday and I laid out exactly what he could do better.”