Less than two weeks ago Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans were holding their breath as Tristan Wirfs was helped off the field after what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Everything that has happened since is hopefully an omen for things to come in general, as things are looking up in ways we aren’t used to see in Tampa.

Almost as soon as Wirfs returned to the locker room following his injury, reports started to come out that he had avoided an ACL tear, and things weren’t nearly as serious as they initially seemed. The Bucs lucked out that their bye week fell right after Wirfs’ injury, which theoretically gave him extra time to heal.

That has turned out to be the case and then some.

Not only is Wirfs trending in the right direction in his recovery, but he was already back at practice this week and hasn’t been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

Tristan Wirfs is already back at practice less than two weeks after spraining his MCL

The hope was that the bye week falling right after the game where Wirfs was injured might help the team catch a break. It’s one they’ve badly needed as the injury bug has been chewing through the roster at an annoying rate so far this year.

Mike Evans is set to return to action on Sunday after having missing the last three games with a hamstring injury and the fact that Wirfs might join him is nothing short of miraculous. Fans won’t be the only ones surprised to see the All-Pro tackle back sooner than expected, as Wirfs initially thought the same thing everyone else was when he re-watched game film of his injury.

“I was watching the film all night, all night on Sunday, and I was like, oh sh-t,” Wirfs said. “[We] got good news on Monday. So that was a huge. The tree trunks are undefeated.”

Talk about quotes that will want to make you run through a wall — or in this case a tree trunk. We’ll see if Wirfs ends up playing on Sunday, which shouldn’t happen unless he’s totally ready, but it won’t be the first time we’ve seen a crazy bounce back after a scary injury.

Vita Vea sprained his MCL in Week 2’s win over the Detroit Lions but ended up hardly missing any time at all. He was back at practice that same week trying to power through, and he’s managed to stay as healthy as possible ever since.

That’s the hope with Wirfs, and the fact that he’s coming back already seems to be a good omen. Tampa Bay is 4-6 but entering the softest part of its schedule, and there’s a clear lane to getting back atop the NFC South.

It won’t be easy, but if things are already starting to break Tampa’s way, that can only mean good things in the weeks to come.