One day after Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety T.J. Ward said that he was at his "wits' end" over lack of playing time, coach Dirk Koetter revealed that he and Ward had a sit-down last Thursday.
"I laid out exactly what I thought I thought he could do better. That's as far as I'll go with that," Koetter said Monday. "I told him exactly what I thought he needed to do."
It's the first time Koetter has had a player voice his displeasure publicly. Koetter believes that it comes with losing close games like the 30-27 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, part of the Bucs' three-game slide.
"Players get grades every week, and grades are reflective of how the coaches grade them," Koetter said to reporters. "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 the team is to go to someone who can do something about it.
"In T.J.'s case, he missed all of training camp, not just with us but with Denver, and then he's been hurt the majority of the time that he's been here," Koetter said. "I'm sure he's frustrated. Every player wants to be out there the whole time. That's just part of the game."
The Bucs signed Ward on Sept. 4, two days after he was released by the Denver Broncos. He injured his hip on Sept. 24 against the Minnesota Vikings, forcing him to miss games against the New York Giants and New England Patriots. Rookie Justin Evans recorded an interception and two pass breakups against Tom Brady.
Ward returned to action on Oct. 15 against the Arizona Cardinals. "I'm great physically," Ward said Sunday. "I've been great for the last two weeks."
Koetter said it wasn't the coaching staff's intention to give Evans every snap on defense and to give Ward so few snaps.
Against the Bills, Ward played just 24 snaps, 35 percent, compared to Evans' 68 snaps (100 percent), Chris Conte 39 (57 percent) and Keith Tandy 2 (3 percent). Against the Cardinals two weeks ago, Evans played 58 defensive snaps (88 percent), while Conte played 37 (56 percent) and Ward played 36 (55 percent).
"Last week, I didn't even play the first half," Ward said. "Maybe there's a method to Coach's madness, but I don't know what it is right now."
In 26 regular-season starts with the Broncos from 2015-16, Ward averaged nearly 61 defensive snaps per game, third most on the Broncos' defense behind Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib.