Bruce Arians Issues A Letter Grade At The Bye
November 3rd, 2021
Grade-giver.
The report card has arrived in the mailbox.
Our beloved Buccaneers are 6-2 and winners of 14 of their last 16.
What a time to be alive – even if you did just get kicked in the groin on Sunday.
The Bucs are in their bye week break and Bucco Bruce Arians was asked by team reporter Casey Phillips to reflect at the sort of halfway mark and grade his club.
“I would think as a team it’s a “B,” Arians told Bucs Total Access. “We got beat at the Rams. We didn’t play very well out there. This one [against New Orleans] we beat ourselves pretty badly. So defensively it’s so cyclical right now — week to week. Like you said, [against] the Bears, no penalties, this week [lots of penalties]. It’s an inconsistent football team right now. And once we find our consistent level, I like where we’ll be.”
Joe thinks Arians’ grade is fair. Joe would give the offense an “A-,” the defense a “B-” and special teams a “C+.”
Yes, Joe realizes Todd Bowles has dealt with a ton of injuries in his defensive backfield, but that doesn’t fully explain the demise of the Bucs’ pass rush, tied for 20th in the NFL in sacks and possibly leading the league in ineffective blitzes.
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:41 am
Also the VERY poor tackling.
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:52 am
Defense a B-, you get hit in the head Joe?
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:02 am
I agree with the grade, but our pass rush pretty much sucks.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:05 am
Joe, how would you grade coaching staff? Bucs fans are all hyped up because of what we all saw this team do last season after the bye. Manage your expectations because that stretch is probably harder to duplicate than reaching the SB again.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:11 am
My view is that the D coaching is suspect more than the players. As some have noted, the basic tackling isn’t very good. And the in-game as well as between-game adjustments need “adjusting”. They need to do a better job and quicker of changing schemes that aren’t working. IMO.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:12 am
Off topic, but some breaking news pertaining our beloved Bucs… There is no excuse for us to not win the division. Michael Thomas will not play this year. The aints have nobodys in the wide receiver room. We clean up the bs penalties and not get called for them. Have a good plan, we can split them come December. Sweep the other two and call it a day. I’ve got faith our boys can pull it off.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:16 am
Everyone was saying – how can the Bucs offense be stopped – well I think they have found that team that can beat the Bucs – the Bucs with all those penalties have found their biggest foe
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:25 am
Statistically the defense is playing around the league average, but when you factor in the relatively weak schedule they’re not at a a B- grade. Sure, you can say they’ve had to perform with injuries, but other teams you’re playing against, or being graded against, also have injuries.
I’d have to give the defense a C-.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:27 am
White is a tremendous athlete but he plays out of control too often for me. If he could get that taken care there would be no stopping him and the Bucs defense. I believe that once all the pieces are back in place after all the injuries, they will be a force to be reckoned on once again.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:49 am
Offense: B-; dropped passes, overshot passes, abandoning the run
Defense: C-: penalties, penalties, penalties
Special Teams: D; not knowing what cleats work on turf
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:58 am
Someone mentioned the poor tackling, couldn’t agree more. This is not an issue with the Buccaneers, this is an issue with everyone in the NFL.
(except the rookie for Cowboys Micah Parsons).
Play after play after play linebackers and DBs hit with shoulder and just do not wrap up. Their arms are nonexistent. It is so mind numbingly frustrating to watch someone in position to make a tackle for no gain just to have the ball carrier bounce off them and pick up 5 more.
The Bucs Defense in the early 2000’s was great because The first guy there hits and wraps up. It’s up to the next wave of would be tacklers to go for the ball.
For some reason no one seems to talk about it and no one seems to coach it anymore
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:03 am
Some good, some bad. I keep waiting for when we actually play a complete football game for 60 minutes. Splitting hairs? At 6-2, probably.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:21 am
The sloppy tackling has been a source of frustration, but it goes further than that. There’s some element of missing, perhaps from hubris.
One of the low lights was watching the Saints destroy the defense on a reverse. Don’t these guys have the discipline or communication skills when a reverse unfolds? It’s real simple, don’t over commit, especially when you see someone in the backfield running in the opposite direction as the play unfolds. When a players sees the handoff he yells “REVERSE” followed by others on the team shouting the same. They first teach that at the sophomore level of high school football. It was crazy seeing no red jerseys, just green grass on the left side of the field.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:30 am
the talent on the team! should be better, urgency is not there this year.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:34 am
Forget the grade.
Just win out.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:34 am
On paper B
On the field C
November 3rd, 2021 at 12:42 pm
@PassingThru-
Yup, rewatched the game (third time -I’m a glutton for punishment) – JPP got completely sucked into pursuing the motion and left the reverse open…..
Overall at times it looked like guys were trying to do too much, trying to make too many hero plays instead of playing with gap control…
I hear Bowles and Arians preach gap control over and over, sometimes it just comes down to players executing….
November 3rd, 2021 at 1:19 pm
Compared to other teams – A- for offense and B- for defense sounds about right.
But this 2021 Bucs team should be graded on a curve.
This team is WAY more talented on paper than other NFL teams.
Start with the best QB of all time – the undisputed GOAT – playing at a very high level considering his advanced age. Doesn’t hurt to have some good receivers eh?
No NFL team has ever had the quality of receiving options that this team has when all are healthy. Brady is throwing to 3 dead lock HOFers – Gronk, AB and Evans – PLUS Chris Godwin who might even get there himself if he can sustain his current level of play for a # of years….. (plus a bunch of other solid and talented role players – Brate, Howard, Miller, Johnson, Bernard, Lenny….)
And the OLine is top 3 in the league.
This is one SICK offense on paper. An offense that is/was very capable of breaking the all time scoring record….
The defense is not as high caliber as the offense – yet has a TON of talent as well.
Is there a better front 7 in the league than Barrett, Suh Vea, Gholston, JPP, David and White? Nope!
Even the beleaguered secondary has solid talent in Davis, Winfield, Whitehead – Dean is playing well this year and SMB has shown flashes…..
Injuries have taken their toll on this team early in 2021- yet thankfully – none so far have been serious enough to end a star player’s season.
6-2 is a decent position to be in after 8 games – yet there’s no way to deny that despite the injuries – this team has underachieved thus far in its pursuit to win back to back Lombardi trophies.
Too many mistakes. Too many miscommunications. Too many PENALTIES. Too many MISSED TACKLES!!!
BA giving a midterm “B” grade as a whole is probably generous compared to the overall talent level and what this team is actually capable of.
Hopefully, this bye week came at a perfect time. It seems it might have. Get some key players back and get a chance to take a closer look at what is and isnt “working” so far….. so this team can start playing up to its abilities.
If that happens – look out rest of the league – Bucs are likely to reel off 12 straight wins and be partying down at Boat Parade #2 next February….
November 3rd, 2021 at 1:28 pm
I’ll save the grades for the end of the year. Several people were writing the Bucs off as a non-playoff team when they were 6-4 last year. How did that turn out?
November 3rd, 2021 at 1:33 pm
Or was it 7-5?
November 3rd, 2021 at 3:20 pm
6-2 is just fine. We dont need to be peaking this early in the season. One game at a time. This team doesnt play for regular season accolades anymore. Get healthy, get consistent, and get ready for hopefully another post season streak.
November 3rd, 2021 at 3:27 pm
I’d give the offense an A, they’re basically on track to be perhaps the greatest passing offense ever, and they’re still decent at running the ball. Not sure what else they’d need to do to be an A offense, unless they ran it up in games (which I’m for, to be clear).
Defense would get a C. It would be a lot lot lower if they played like this but didn’t have so many injuries. Overall, considering the trash we’ve had to start at corner, to play as well as we’ve done, is pretty good. Honestly, with the these corners, I don’t know what you could really do different. Maybe you could just scrap most of the playbook and go to a zone, but then you’re just going to allow the other team to eat the clock and score, as opposed to just score. I’ll take the quick death on defense.
November 3rd, 2021 at 4:27 pm
Just an FYI, these days the report card is sent with the student or posted online with a corresponding text message to parents with the link. I have two sons who are young adults now and over the past 20 years I’ve never had a report card mailed to my house.
November 3rd, 2021 at 4:29 pm
The terrible in game adjustments is what makes this team look so bad against good teams. On top of that, if Tom has a bad game we will get blown out.
November 3rd, 2021 at 5:44 pm
Offense gets a B .
Defense gets a C.
Both have only played well against bad teams (and even then, not consistently for the whole game)
November 3rd, 2021 at 6:06 pm
Whenever I grade my own work, I always receive high scores.
November 3rd, 2021 at 7:16 pm
Be consistent and be brave. Stop the stupid penalties. Bench the offenders. Be brave..
.
November 3rd, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Did I hear anything about the Bucs getting their butts outcoached ????
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:15 pm
Another thing that nobody is talking about is that when our D backs are running with receivers , they NEVER look back to see where the ball is !! I mean , they could be leading the NFL in INT’S if they would play the ball a little more . And it’s so frustrating when you see the RECEIVER with his hands out waiting for the ball to land right in them , but the C.B. doesn’t even attempt to either look back and make the play or at least get his own hands up to try and defend the pass !! NONE OF THEM ARE GOOD AT JUMPING ROUTES .. I still remember having RONDE BARBER LEADING THE LEAGUE IN PASSES DEFENDED AND UP THERE IN INTERCEPTIONS !! As did his fellow Corner for years , I can’t remember his name for some reason . But I watch ALL these other CBs play that have half the talent of Carlton Davis and SMB and they play the ball 🏈 when it’s in the air !! ANOTHER REASON THAT WOULD HELP , IF THEY WERE PLAYING THE BALL AND LOOKING FOR THE 🏈 , THEY WOULDN’T GET CALLED FOR PASS INTERFERENCE A FEW TIMES A GAME !! THAT’S THE COACHES JOBS TO HAVE THEM PLAY LIKE THAT .
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:32 pm
Another thing is the REF’S ARE OUT TO GET THE BUCS FOR SOME REASON ??!! IT’S BEEN SINCE THE COWBOYS GAME !! ONE SIDED CALL’S AGAINST THE BUCS , BUT THEY LET THE OTHER TEAMS TO HOLD OUR D-LINE ON ALMOST EVERY PLAY !! AND CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG , BUT WHEN A.WINFEILD MADE THAT INT IN THE END ZONE , THAT BULLCRAP ROUGHING THE PASSER CALL WHEN THE O- TACKLE WAS RIPPING THE HELMET OFF WILL GHOLSTONS HEAD SO HE COULDN’T SEE AND BARELY BUMPED INTO THE QB , SHOULDN’T THE INT HAVE STILL BEEN GOOD AND THEN THE PENALTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN HALF THE DISTANCE FROM THE GOAL ?? I MEAN WINFIELD HAD THE BALL AND TOOK A KNEE BEFORE THE BULLCRAP ROUGHING WAS CALLED !! PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG BECAUSE IT’S BEEN EATING ME UP SINCE IT HAPPENED .. On a different note , I look at the Bucs remaining schedule and the only team that SHOULD have a shot at beating us is the BILLS and we play them at RayJay ! Bucs SHOULD/COULD be 14-3 If not 15-2 … Go BUCS
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:35 pm
And what is your grade there brother Bruce?
November 4th, 2021 at 12:34 am
NO loss really hurt. TB is now t
November 4th, 2021 at 12:52 am
NO loss really hurt. They are tied in the loss column, and NO has the tiebreaker. Even worse, there are four teams in the NFC with only one loss. Unlikely now to get a first round bye, and likely to have road playoff games. They did great on the road last year, but will be a lot harder this year with full stadiums. With the way other teams are playing this year, you can’t afford to let what should be an easy win slip away. (Not to mention it kills me for the Bucs to lose to Sean (bountygate) Peyton.)
As for ratings:. Offense B+ (would have been higher early in the year)
Defense C-
Special teams C