Grading Bruce Arians
December 7th, 2019
Studied.
We will have a better idea a month from now how good of a job Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians did this season.
But four games remaining hasn’t stopped Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report from issuing his grade. He points out the highs and lows of Arians and offers these positives:
Arians has already coached Tampa to as many wins as it had in each of the past two seasons. His offense is explosive — it ranks fourth in scoring, averaging 28.3 points per game — and has kept the Buccaneers in most games this season. They’ve won three of their last four.
Arians also deserves credit for taking a hard stance with underperforming players. Cornerback Vernon Hargreaves consistently played poorly. He’s out. Running back Ronald Jones II missed a blitz pickup in Week 13 [and was benched].
Arians is running a tight ship, and as long as the players don’t sour on his disciplinarian approach, it should help make Tampa a better team heading into 2020.
So long as the team is winning players will tolerate a tight ship. You know what Joe always says, “Winning is the greatest perfume.”
One knock that Knox knocks Arians for is the secondary. Joe suspects Knox hasn’t brushed up on the Bucs in the past couple of weeks because he tears the secondary apart.
Prior to Vernon Hargreaves getting benched and subsequently being released, the secondary was well worth getting pounded on. Now, Joe is in a wait-and-see approach to see if the secondary truly is fixed or if the past few games of strong play is a fluke.
Knox gave Arians a B- grade.
December 7th, 2019 at 9:08 am
D at best…. BA and his BS are entertaining but until he wins a playoff game his grade can’t be any higher than a D…. with wild cards and so many teams making playoffs every year just making playoffs is a C…. one and done in post season is not success. Raise your standards. you people get excited and make plans for a parade if bucs even sniff 500….. 500 is failure
December 7th, 2019 at 9:10 am
C-
December 7th, 2019 at 9:16 am
Too bad his clock management, in game management and hands off approach has hurt this team. All his BS bluster heading into the season was all hype
C-
So far, if he doesn’t match Dirks first year win total it’s an F
December 7th, 2019 at 9:31 am
“Taking a stance with underperforming players”
???
Vern should have been benched long before he was released, and then of course there’s Capt. Turnover….
December 7th, 2019 at 9:34 am
Giants game missed FG puts a little better shine at6-7
December 7th, 2019 at 9:56 am
I’d say that BA is now a solid B. I was down on him earlier in the year because he seemed to be always ‘blowing smoke’ AND because he allowed Leftwich to marginalize the Bucs’ offense. Many if not most are praising BL for us having the #4 scoring offense, but I still full of doubt. Take away the 4 TDs that our DEFENSE has scored, and our offense has then scored 312 points in 12 games (26.0 PPG).
To the offense’s credit, a BUNCH of the points they have scored came as a result of playing good COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL associated with the 17 OTHER takeaways our defense has generated thus far this year.
The incredible Rams’ game also skews the numbers … take away those 48 points scored by the offense and the 4 TDs scored by the defense this year and our offense has then averaged 24.0 PPG for the other 11 games. And it’s not even that high against the better defenses in the league. For the most expensive offense in the league, I’m not not nearly as impressed as some seem to be.
Picky I know, BUT boiling an offense’s performance down to a single number (#4 in the NFL) doesn’t always give a good picture of its’ effectiveness. The REAL measure of effectiveness IMO is the TEAM’s won-loss record … and right now we sit at 5-7.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:00 am
For the mess this organization has bin For over a decade BA is doing great job an for this MICROWAVE GENERATION WHERE EVERYONE WANTS TO PUT SOMETHING IN THE MICROWAVE AN IN MINUTES HAVE INSTANT RESULTS ISNT realistic sorry perfection takes time is BA perfect nope but he’s got this team pointing in the right direction #endthedrought go Bucs
December 7th, 2019 at 10:13 am
He gets a C from me. I like him, but it hasn’t been great. But, at the same time this isn’t a medium rare steak. It isn’t going to be fixed on a jiffy. Let’s see what we do next season. Go Bucs!!!
December 7th, 2019 at 10:27 am
I had to post..all you freaking idiots that are bagging on arians need to wake up. Are you watching the same pathetic franchise that I am? This team had terrible coaching the past 10 years. If you expected a playoff team then you really do t know professional football. Arians has made mistakes but jesus christ, the guy has done a tremendous job with the pile of crap he was given.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:28 am
If this defense isn’t a fluke (we will know tomorrow), Bowles gets A+. The ST is also starting to improve. Offense is the big ?
December 7th, 2019 at 10:35 am
I like Arians and would give him another year. That said, you can’t ignore the Superbowl Hype he started off with which. ironically was the same as what Winston said five long years ago. Once the games began, expectations ratcheted downward to where we’re praying for anything above .500,..sad. Listen, once again the Bucs aren’t going to the play-offs and that should be your minimum goal every year; anything less than that means failure.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:35 am
Kyle
The real question is are you watching…. for the better part of the season BA has looked more like a sideline circus clown than competent head coach
December 7th, 2019 at 10:40 am
Do not take the Lord’s name in vain!!! It’s one of the Ten Commandments.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:44 am
Anyone who thought this team was going to be great this year truly doesn’t know football. I’d also like to add getting rid of McCoy to the list of things that needed to happen that I’m proud of. BA not calling the plays and his hands off approach I’m not fond of but I can see what’s he’s doing. IMO BA knew this team wasn’t ready so why not give BL a chance and see if her could call an effective Offense. I know we’re better in some Categories but the run game and the use of the TEs still needs work. Some of that has to fall on the Oline but the constant running up the middle is ridiculous. Scheme ways to get Rojo in space and roll Jameis out some and the middle will open up. All in all I’m giving him a C right about now.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:48 am
BA gets a solid B leaning towards a B+, the crap he inherited from the previous coaching regime. 500 football in my opinion would be a solid B as long as it is trending in the right direction. Every one wants to bash BA for not play calling, but think about this. Everyone expects BA only to be around for 2-3 years, pushing BL on play calling duties only will strengthen the team in whole for when BA retires, if he decided to do play calls himself then when he leaves we would be left with some who was new to play calling and in no position to even think about a HC job let alone keeping his guys together and in jobs. He instilled a new culture, new offense and defense , to expect him to do any better then .500 would mean the stars aligned and lady luck finally blessed the Bucs. Another year of him at helm, making personnel decisions after a year of truly getting evaluations on the players he had running his system and then a draft to replace or upgrade the players he determined that needed to go.
December 7th, 2019 at 10:53 am
Football is results oriented business the only result that matters is wins in the postseason…. anyone grading this coach and franchise above a d is stating unequivocally they support and reward failure…..
December 7th, 2019 at 11:39 am
Wow tmaxcon, I’m really surprised that you’d give BA a D grade. That’s a step up from what I was expecting from you.
Of course, I’m sure that A’s are reserved for yourself, so that is a mitigating factor.
December 7th, 2019 at 11:48 am
Missed field goal in Giants game, refs botched call on fumble return in Titans game, not going for 2 point conversion biscuit in Seahawks game, plus possibly another blown game by refs I missed I’m sure cost us at least three wins this year. We were that close folks. Reason I get so irked by the refs when they blow obvious calls. Imagine if we were sitting at 8-4 right now. We would be running for our first playoff spot in over a decade. Don’t take the little details for granted or they might come back and haunt you. Go Bucs! Finish the year off strong!
December 7th, 2019 at 12:06 pm
C Grade would be higher if he had been calling the plays instead of overhyped Leftwitch. Lets face it . He is pretty bad.
December 7th, 2019 at 1:15 pm
I’d say a B- is about right in MO. Since a C is average. 2nd youngest team in the league and they’ve pretty much been competitive in every game. The energy level is definitely up from the last 2 seasons. I’m going to ding him on 2 TO’s in a row. Challenging an OPI which rarely gets overturned and not challenging a 4th down spot when the QB pulls the ball back himself. Letting Leftwich plan and call the games are also a ding. If he eliminates the easy mistakes and gets more involved in play calling and game planning he’d easily be a B+/A grade.
December 7th, 2019 at 1:36 pm
Can’t grade a retired coach. His time is gone!
BA = LovieS 2.0
December 7th, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Who? Some dude named Knox on a blog is now qualified information. You might as well be highlighting the would be analyst on these here comment sections lol
December 7th, 2019 at 1:50 pm
“One knock that Knox knocks Arians for”
Nice alliteration there J0e 😉
December 7th, 2019 at 1:52 pm
tmax, i have read your garbage for years. I would argue that you are actually the clown show. Mr. know it all, keep delivering my pizza on time sir.
December 7th, 2019 at 2:10 pm
I dont post here as much as i used to because most of you are clueless. You guys are bashing BA for not calling plays and you bash BL for his playcalling. BL has this team as a top 10 offense and top 4 scoring offense. Is BL perfect? No but he is very good for being a 1st year play caller which means he will only get better as he continues to learn his personnell and the art of calling plays. You clueless fans say he sucks but i have never heard of a top 10 offense and top 4 scoring offense as sucking. But again most of you are clueless tampa fans and thats why you are mocked and laughed at. Newsflash, being ranked #1 in rushing, passing and scoring at the same time is not as easy as many of you think. In fact, its a pipe dream. Fyi clueless fanbase…..running off BL does not gaurantee #1 in offense, #1 in passing, rushing, and scoring. Get a freaking clue please!!!
December 7th, 2019 at 5:12 pm
What’s this grade crap? You either win or you fail.
December 7th, 2019 at 6:26 pm
Really hope it’s not a fluke, the next games will tell us alot, Hope we can stay 2nd in our division the rest of the season.. Go Bucs..
December 7th, 2019 at 6:33 pm
ModHairKen Says:
December 7th, 2019 at 5:12 pm
What’s this grade crap? You either win or you fail.
Not in bucland…. Excuses, meaningless pro bowls, player of the week awards and subjective useless lists have always trumped winning in Tampa..
December 7th, 2019 at 8:00 pm
T-pax talking standards. What does he know about standards? Anybody that considers T-pax a friend has no standards. I can’t imagine him ever being invited to anything other than a protest. His complaining and whining skills are legendary.
December 7th, 2019 at 9:06 pm
Sorry T M A X I P A D but I’m loving everyone ripping into you. Lol
December 7th, 2019 at 9:09 pm
#1bucfan
Soak it up pal but it doesn’t change the fact its another failed season and 18 years since last meaningful win….
December 7th, 2019 at 10:26 pm
TMax is right. People around here get excited about stupid, meaningless things. Pro Bowl is a joke. Only players who go are the ones who want to go to WDW. Sack leader getting player of the year talk on a losing team? Come on. Let’s trade next year’s picks so we can make a run at a wild card. Stupid. Grading a coach with a school standard? Mental self gratification.
You either win the Super Bowl or you are a loser. For all you long suffering fans, ask yourself would you rather be Buffalo and Minnesota or Tampa? 8 tries. Zero rings.
December 8th, 2019 at 6:19 am
I agree with tmax for the most part……….. you are what your record says you are….. BA gaets a D ….. to allow leftover leftwich to call the plays is unacceptable, he is a day late and a dollar short……..