Time To Earn Your Salary
June 9th, 2020
Git ‘er done.
Bucco Bruce Arians arrived in Tampa Bay with a lot of hype. After one year, the reviews are a mixed bag.
Yeah, Arians did a lot well. You could argue a play here or a play there, and the Bucs are in a wild card game.
Arians’ handpicked coaches also turned around a positively heinous defense and he got America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, to lead the NFL in passing yards (5,109) and the NFC in touchdowns (33).
Now the bad: Jameis melted down in the latter part of the season (good coaching gets guys better down the road, not worse, no?) and for being an offensive guy, Arians’ offense, while excellent in passing, was dismal in the run game. But Arians seemed to think he had Adrian Peterson and Ezekiel Elliott in their primes in the backfield.
Also, Arians’ misuse (nonuse?) of talented tight ends was sad.
Now there are no excuses. Arians openly slobbered over quarterback Tom Brady as his “Door No. 2” dream date. And now he has Brady.
If the Bucs struggle this year, Adam Rank of NFL.com suggests Arians will have some ‘splaining to do as Rank ranks Arians as a “VIP.”
Rob Gronkowski referred to Arians as a “football master” when he talked about his new coach, and that fits. Arians is one of the best coaches on the planet right now, and any team would be lucky to have him. (I’m not getting into the Bears passing on him, though.) It’s funny to think these last couple of years almost eluded Arians, who might not have ever gotten a head-coaching gig if the situation didn’t present itself in Indianapolis a few years back. Now he’s one of those splendid stories of a guy who achieved his greatest success later in his career. Like the Bryan Cranston of the NFL. (If we’re casting actors to play NFL coaches, we just nailed it.) But I will say this about Arians (because you can take my word for it): Brady is in Tampa Bay because of Arians. Maybe not 100 percent because of Arians. But the coach was definitely a check in the pros column, if TB12 filled out a pro-con list. Like Ted Mosby used to do on How I Met Your Mother. And of course, one of the actors to play Ted’s boss in the series? Bryan Cranston. Boom. The Bucs are winning the Super Bowl. Alright, maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Rank makes a good point: Arians is a huge reason why Brady is in Tampa Bay.
Arians seemed resistant to adjusting last year. (See tight ends gripe above). This even baffled a couple of his own offensive players. And Arians talking himself into thinking he could lean on his running backs to win games almost made Joe wonder about Arians’ running back evaluation acumen.
If everyone watching on TV and at the stadium can see your running backs are stinking up the field, why couldn’t the head coach?
The very early returns on Brady indicate Arians is adjusting to what Brady can do best. We shall see.
Landing Brady could be the best move that Arians ever pushed for. Or it will leave some Bucs followers wondering what Arians was thinking?
June 9th, 2020 at 8:12 am
Arians will deliver…..He was tasked with turning a now 3rd string QB into a productive starting QB. He failed where Koetter and Monken also failed, both still employed within the league. I believe Arians will deliver, its simply more about having realistic expectations. Hard to put it all together in one bizarre offseason but i’m a believer we’ll see a much better product on the field.
June 9th, 2020 at 8:16 am
Cut down the turnovers, penalties…..extend drives, make kicks…..continue to stop the run and improve the secondary…..equals victory.
June 9th, 2020 at 8:45 am
Joe-
You couldn’t see how interceptions are devastating to a team’s chances of winning
And now you can’t see that ROJO has talent and the problem with the run game was the right side of OLine.
Get some help
June 9th, 2020 at 8:50 am
“Arians’ handpicked coaches also turned around a positively heinous defense and he got America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, to lead the NFL in passing yards (5,109) and the NFC in touchdowns (33).” while setting an NFL record with (30) interceptions. Here Joe I fixed this for you.
Yes! Talk about a turnaround. As Coach Arians said “It smells as bad as it could possibly smell and it’ll smell that way for a long time.”
Excited to see what the largest coaching staff in the NFL will bring to the field this season. Any word from coaches on if we will again use two fields and two practices for players to gain reps? Think we could possibly get in three?
Go! Bucs!
June 9th, 2020 at 9:12 am
Rusty
30 interceptions is NOT an NFL record, it’s not even a Bucs record.
The distinction was that JW threw 30 interception AND over 30 touchdowns.
No other NFL quarterback has done that.
Kind of like a high performance engine that is missing really bad on one or two cylinders but still gets you across the finish line.
Well, we have traded that poorly tuned engine for one that is well tuned and has a history of winning.
Now lets go win this race!
June 9th, 2020 at 9:19 am
Most scribes are positive about the Bucs… why can’t this “fan site” be too?
June 9th, 2020 at 9:33 am
If the “good” in 2019 was the 5,109 yards and 33 passing touchdowns, but in 2018 with split time with 2 QB’s the stats were better!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 5,109 passing yards, 33 passing TD’s
2018 5,358 passing yards, 36 passing TD’s
It’s a shame that the sheep were lead so astray by the lies and scapegoating that coaching was the problem!!!!!!!!!!! Ole stale biscuit only regressed!!!!!!!!!!!! And now licht bulb’s terrible job of building a roster has been exposed!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this team will need years to rebuild after all the desperate moves this regime has wrongly made!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 9th, 2020 at 9:37 am
SC
Because we’re Bucs fans, some of us since 1976.
We can hope……..
June 9th, 2020 at 9:54 am
Dooosh I’ve been a fan since day 1. I understand the Charlie Brown kicking the ball nature of this team. Why not enjoy the hype?
June 9th, 2020 at 9:55 am
IMO Arians has already done a great job of turning around the culture of the franchise, moving on from Hargreaves and Winston are a couple moves that has shown that it is a new day in Tampa Bay. The team now has real standards, Trust, Loyalty and Respect. GO BUCS !!!
June 9th, 2020 at 9:59 am
@ ElBuco
Do you really feel the roster is not strong? In what ways bud, I am curious to hear your view on the roster. I feel that our roster is actually one of the better in the Nfl , and that is my honest opinion not just because Im a Bucs fan.
June 9th, 2020 at 10:08 am
On offense we are clearly top 3-4 in the league. defensive front 7 is again prob top 5, secondary is young and obviously the weekest part of the team but no way that makes the roster weak. I actually cant think of many teams who are strong across the board with salary cap, so we should be proud of our roster and we should actually give Licht a lot of credit for that as well as Arians and his staff.
June 9th, 2020 at 10:16 am
Elbuco is a tool and a troll who spouts nothing but contempt, please do not feed the trolls.
June 9th, 2020 at 10:38 am
@ Mike… got it , thx bro
June 9th, 2020 at 11:07 am
He gets his team to the playoffs if we don’t throw 30 pics.
June 9th, 2020 at 12:03 pm
The roster would be strong,,,,,,,,,,, if this was 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But buy the hype sheep!!!!!!!!!! The most interesting part of the season will be the new excuses by bruce Arrogance and parroted by the sheep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
June 9th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
Eventually, Rojo turned it around and became a better RB near the end of the year. We have a good corps going forward.
Unless they want to throw everything at Devonta Freeman which would be dumb.
June 9th, 2020 at 12:49 pm
Two games. Joe is somewhat encouraged but not yet ready to knight him as a No. 1 back.
And a running back-adverse coach and organization spent a second-day pick on a running back so it appears on face value RoJo’s employer isn’t fully sold either.
June 9th, 2020 at 12:50 pm
Realist(o) talking about coaching is hilarious. His ardent support of a DC who led the defense to the worst, and 2nd worst rankings in the league renders his opinion of Arians absolutely meaningless.
I don’t buy this “misuse of TE” stuff either. QB has to throw them the ball.
June 9th, 2020 at 1:30 pm
ROJO was 22 last year
Yes, he was inconsistent and needs improvement in pass blocking
But he was good in several games, not just last 2.
Sep 8 vs 49ers. 93 yards offense
Sep 22 vs Giants. 121 yards offense
Sep 29 vs Rams 82 yards offense
Nov 3 vs Seahawks 82 yards offense
Nov 10 vs Cardinals 106 yards offense
Dec 21 vs Texans 109 yards offense
Dec 29 vs Falcons. 116 yards offense
He is a talented YOUNG back that should have his best year this year.
On the way UP. Freeman is only good for receiving in backfield in open space and is on the way down- I’d rather see what Vaughn can do.
June 9th, 2020 at 3:45 pm
Joe says: … (good coaching gets guys better down the road, not worse, no?)
Thats true for the most part but every player doesn’t catch on, ie. 5 years of JW and beating my head against the wall. Plus you have Tom Moore in JW’s ear for gods sake and he still couldn’t cut down his INTs. I’m confident they did their due diligence with JW and the coaching he received. If it’s not that then JW was butt hurt about something we have no clue about and conducted himself in that childish manner we all love.
June 9th, 2020 at 3:58 pm
@Jenny Jones
So they did their “due diligence” and figured out what the last coaching staff and “real” fans already knew years ago?????? Way to go!!!!!!!!
Are you “confident” that they will do their “due diligence” and figure out that licht bulb has not been drafting well enough to field a solid team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sheep will buy any excuse!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 9th, 2020 at 7:01 pm
Tom Brady and our receiver’s are going to tear it up. It was our number one receiving squad that got Jameis “Googly Goggles” Winston 5,000+ yards and thirty pics. Enter the GOAT QB and bff GOAT TE.
June 9th, 2020 at 10:18 pm
Because Joe is not a con artist. The Bucs have been one of the worst franchises the past 12 years. Why should Joe blindly give them the benefit of the doubt? Respect is earned, not given.
June 10th, 2020 at 12:53 am
Ok – good conversation here. You all know I’m in full support of BA. It doesn’t mean I’m blind. He had a lot of crap to cleanup. His coaching staff provided one of the biggest YOY improvements this club has seen since Dungy.
Remaining items to clean up.
1. Reduce turnovers – should be remedied by removing the starting third string QB.
2. Improve Special Teams – not good enough
3. Reduce Penalties – waaaay too many. The Brady (Jordan) affect should help. Hah!
In BA I Trust!