Whenever two rosters as loaded as the Bucs and Saints take the field, the number of key matchups to highlight will be plentiful. In one such case there appears to be a considerable advantage for the Saints on paper, as their star defensive end Cameron Jordan squares off with Bucs rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs, playing in his first ever NFL game.

Facing any premier pass rusher in your first game as a tackle in the NFL is a challenge, as the pass-heavy nature of the league and sophisticated pass rush skill sets of opponents are a big step in a different direction than what all tackles have to deal with in college. But facing Cam Jordan is even more of a challenge due to the relentless motor, physicality and edge with which he plays the game. 14 sacks in 18 career games against the Bucs, including 4.5 in the past three matchups, indicates Tampa Bay hasn’t really figured out how to stop him.

Wirfs has told the media that he’s a nice guy, but on Sunday that better not be the case. Jordan likes to intimidate in his play style, going toe-to-toe with every opponent and talking plenty of trash in between plays. He’s a relentless competitor who will test Wirfs athletically, physically and technically, but also psychologically.

I don’t care how highly you were drafted, that’s not the type of player you want to leave a rookie offensive tackle on an island with all game long. So how can the Bucs help Tristan Wirfs? How can Tristan Wirfs help himself? Here’s a few ways both Wirfs and the Bucs coaching staff can best prepare to slow down the force of nature that is Cam Jordan.

1. Throw on first down

This is a good principle to follow in general, for any offense. FiveThirtyEight’s Josh Hermsmeyer studied league play sequences from 2009-2018 and detailed his findings in this outstanding article, including the following:

Pass-rush-rush is the most successful three-play sequence, followed by pass-pass-rush and rush-pass-rush. On first down, passing will net you at least 5 yards (enough to make the play a success) 47 percent of the time, while running the ball will get you the same result just 32.8 percent of the time, 14.2 percentage points less often.

Ok, that’s cool, but how does it help Wirfs against Jordan?

Defensive linemen are far less likely to tee off as pass rushers on first down, going through their run reads before working on getting to the quarterback. This will give Wirfs more time to get set up in protection before Jordan is engaging him, and less time for Jordan to explode into his attack plan with a single purpose. Any time you can slow a pass rusher’s process even a little bit, you’ve done a lot to help out your offensive line.

The Bucs also must stay out of third-and-long situations as an offense, and as the aforementioned study shows, the best way to do that is to throw on first down. You’ll not only put Jordan in less advantageous, pass-obvious situations where he can tee off against Wirfs, but you’ll also put yourself in more second and third-and-short situations, where your run game can then be more effective than if you’d deployed it on first down.

2. Use Play Action

I could write a book on why more teams should be utilizing heavy amounts of play-action in their passing game, but it’s most pertinent to the Bucs in Week 1 as a good way to slow down the opposing pass rush. For The Win’s Steven Ruiz used Sports Info Solutions data to illustrate the impact play-action can have on the opposing pass rush in this article:

Since 2015, play-action passes have actually produced a lower sack rate (5.4%) than standard dropbacks (6.5%) have, according to Sports Info Solutions.

There are a few reasons for this. First, the play fake holds the defensive linemen at least a tick longer than normal, as they respect their gap control in run defense if the ball were to be handed off. Second, the majority of play-action passes require only 1-to-2 reads for the quarterback, allowing him to get the ball out of his hand quickly, before the pass rush can reach him.

Keeping Jordan off-balance in his attack will be critical for Tampa Bay on Sunday. Bruce Arians has not been a heavy proponent of play-action, using it at one of the lowest rates in the league going back to his days in Arizona. Tom Brady, on the other hand, has consistently been among the league leaders in play-action, and when the Bucs did use it last year, they had tremendous success. Hopefully those two facts are enough to push Arians into more play-action usage in 2020, especially during Week 1. It could make a big difference for Wirfs.

3. Stay Sound Technically, Tristan

Two weeks ago Wirfs’ spoke with the media about some of the technical aspects of his pass set, and how he’s learning to keep the inside gate closed against pass rushers by the alignment of his inside leg.

“Our pass sets [in Tampa Bay] we do more vertical sets,” Wirfs said. “At Iowa I was just on a 45 (degree pass set) all the time, ya know? If I do that here, Shaq’s gonna (laughs), Shaq’s gonna eat me alive. So I gotta change it up, you gotta definitely stay more square. That’s a big thing I’ve been working on is keeping my knee and toe of my inside leg facing straight up the field when I’m kicking instead of opening everything up to the sideline.”

Like it or not, there are probably going to be at least a few times in the game when Wirfs is on an island against Jordan, probably on a deep drop by Brady. In these situations there are a lot of technical aspects of playing the position that can help him, but staying square to the line of scrimmage and not giving Jordan an inside path to the quarterback is crucial.

Jordan isn’t the edge bender that Shaq Barrett is, but he does offer elite power and hand usage to work through and inside opposing tackles to produce pressure and sacks at a high rate. He can win outside too, but his Plan A is to work through his opponent and cross his face to the quarterback. If Wirfs can keep his inside leg straight up the field and not open up his hips too much to the sideline, he has the strength, quickness and length to combat Jordan’s inside rushes.

Easier said than done, but that is probably the biggest way Wirfs’ can help himself on Sunday against one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.