“I Actually Think They Got Better At Head Coach”
June 13th, 2022
Wacky take.
It may be time for ex-GM Mike Tannenbaum’s employer to demand a drug test.
This morning, Tannenbaum was on ESPN TV explaining that Tampa Bay pulled off a March upgrade at head coach.
Never mind that the Bucs are on a 22-5 run, including a Super Bowl win. “I actually think they got better at head coach,” Tannenbaum said of the move to Todd Bowles.
Tannenbaum was ranting about how defensive head coaches he’s been around are more disciplined and that Bowles’ resume is very similar to Bill Belicheat’s when he was hired in New England.
“This team will make less mistakes. They’ll have less turnovers. They’ll have less penalties,” Tannenbaum said of the 2022 Bucs.
Joe thinks this take is beyond wacky. It’s just another example of the Bucco Bruce Arians hate/disrepsect that flows across the NFL.
Joe is not anti-Bowles, but he’s got to prove that he’s as good as the greatest head coach in Buccaneers history. And that is Arians.
Also, as you’ll hear in the next Ira Kaufman Podcast (Part II of Bowles’ sitdown with Joe and Ira), Bowles explains that the Bucs lacked discipline in their tackling last season and that was a huge reason he believes it was “average overall” and “terrible” in some games.
Bowles citing his own unit’s discipline sort of runs counter to Tannenbaum’s theory that the Bucs will play more disciplined football.
Regardless, Bowles is qualified and primed for his opportunity. If he can prove to be a quarter-step below Arians in quality, then the Bucs should have enough juice to win a Super Bowl. And yes, maybe Bowles will be better than Arians, but that’s a converation for January, not June.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:01 pm
And here I was worried that they might regress under Bowles….
We’ll see.
We still have TB12 so that helps out a lot.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:05 pm
Enjoy the next six weeks of the “I’ll say something ridiculous for the sole reason of attention” season.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:09 pm
“And yes, maybe Bowles will be better than Arians, but that’s a conversation for January, not June.”
That’s a conversation for January of 2024 or 2025 AFTER Brady has retired for real and Gronk has departed.
I believe that Bowles WILL be a great head coach but it will be difficult to properly evaluate him when he’s got the GOAT as his QB and the front office has sacrificed some salary cap in future years in order to obtain an advantage now.
While it is possible that Bowles will be as good as or better than Arians, for Tannenbaum to assert such a thing now he must be smoking some of that extra strenght medical marijuana.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:15 pm
Joe, I’m starting to suspect that you have a man-crush on BA. I love the guy too & appreciate how the Bucs have turned around in these past 3 years, but it’s not like he did it all by himself.
Quite the contrary, he’s had a great staff supporting him & that’s critical IMO (they do the heavy lifting). He also started in 2019 with a fairly talented team … that was poorly coached in that they had trouble developing players. OK, a LOT of trouble developing players. Plus we’ve drafted exceptionally well these past 3 years. BA didn’t turn the ship around in the 1st year (we did go 7-9), but by 2020 things came together VERY nicely (especially when Tom Brady came onboard & coaxed a LOT of talent to join him).
The good news for Todd Bowles is that the talent is STILL here (and it MIGHT have even improved some), as is the excellent coaching staff that’s now been here for 3 years going on 4. I’m optimistic about 2022, but I’m still concerned that our pass rush & ILBs could turn out to be our Achilles Heel. Would feel MUCH better about our chances for another SB victory if we’d re-sign Suh and add an experienced ILB to the fold.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
Suh.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:23 pm
I for one believe last year Arian’s had little to do with game planning each week. Then on game day Arians would want control and sometimes his instincts went against the game plan that was developed during the week. You can’t take a hands off attitude and delegate game planning to your coordinators then take charge on game day.
June 13th, 2022 at 1:27 pm
That’s one man’s opinion. He could be right. We’ll find out in time. I hope bowles is better we’d hate to see regression
June 13th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
I agree with Defense on the pieces that feel like we’re missing. I’d feel very strong about the potential smooth ride to the big show with Suh and another line backer to secure up any potential remaining holes. Besides that all else feels pretty good. Especially concerning our secondary. It’s nice to feel like we actually have the man power in that area regardless of injury for a change. Knocking on wood…
GO BUCS!
June 13th, 2022 at 1:59 pm
I’m actually hoping Arians to Bowles works out like Cowher to Tomlin did in Pittsburgh. Bowles doesn’t have to be “better” than BA, he’s just got to keep the standard of winning that BA set & held in his relatively short amount of time here. Bowles is already a better coach than he was when he got the gig with the Jets, so now we’re all getting a look at what he’s learned from that experience and what he’s learned in his time under BA in Tampa.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:00 pm
Blah blah blah… when you have to publish stories
June 13th, 2022 at 2:01 pm
Yes, BA had a great staff, but he put that staff together too, so let’s not forget that!
June 13th, 2022 at 2:02 pm
Joe needs to be tested too. Arians greatest coach in bucs history lol. Hold up.. is that with brady or without ?
June 13th, 2022 at 2:06 pm
Hope it’s true won’t know until after the season go bucs.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:06 pm
You BA fanboys are incredible. Let’s look at BA without Tom Brady. I’m throwing out the 9-3 record in Indy, because he wasn’t hired, and it wasn’t his team. Plus it suits my agenda. BA was 56-39 in Zona, and Tampa, before Brady. Not great, but not bad. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that most of that vast majority of that success in Zona, was in the first three years . The Cardinals were ready to win, yes even without the vaunted Bruce Arians. Look at what happened after, it fell completely apart.
Let’s move onto Tampa, 7-9 without Brady. BA also has a 1-2 playoff record without Brady. I know what most of you will say. Look at Belichick’s record without Brady. That’s a facile analogy. Bill would’ve undoubtedly won 2-3 Ring without Brady. His attention to detail, and coaching acumen is undeniable. He won 7 games with Cam Newton and a gutted roster. I think it was his finest coaching job. If the Patriots get one or two breaks, they’re a playoff team. Belichick built a wagon in 03 and 04. I think plenty of QBs could’ve won at least one of those years, probably both.
For all of you that think BA wasn’t pushed out by Brady, answer me this. Brady said the other day how much he loves BA and that he was a big reason he picked Tampa. Then, why wasn’t he upset when BA “retired”? Why didn’t he beg him to come back and demand he stay. No evidence exists of that. Believe me, BA would’ve told us all.
BA isn’t a terrible coach, but he’s also not great either. Many of you exceedingly overrate him.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:14 pm
Tannenbaum is a maroon with a mental deficiency.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
Most of you exceedingly overrate BA. If Brady wanted him, he’d still be the HC.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
BA is the greatest coach in NFL history. Nobody else comes close.
June 13th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
BlahahHa BlahahHa BlahahHa
June 13th, 2022 at 2:23 pm
Who is the greatest coach in Bucs history in your opinion? I don’t think it’s Dungy and it’s not Gruden. Who else is left? If you think it’s Dungy then you probably believe Gruden won with Dungy’s team (which is false). If you think it’s Gruden then you forget that defense had 3 guys in the Hall of Fame and 2 guys who probably should be in the Hall of Fame, one of which is definitely getting in that some point (Barber).
All great coaches have great players. You have to look at other things. You point to Brady but quite frankly apart from the 2007 season Brady has had his best individual seasons under Arians. Arians has a .632 winning percentage as a head coach with the Bucs. He was one Super Bowl and two NFC Championship appearances.
June 13th, 2022 at 3:01 pm
In 2019, the Bucs could’ve easily been 12-4 or at least 11-5 if it weren’t for 20 interceptions leading to 5 losses in 5 games-( 49ers, Panthers, Titans, Texans, Falcons)- that’s NOT on BA.
June 13th, 2022 at 3:44 pm
GOB … ‘BA isn’t a terrible coach, but he’s also not great either. Many of you exceedingly overrate him.’
In my experience GOB, leaders tend to be as good as the people they have working with them. And THAT’S part of their genius so to speak; they create great staffs … that ALSO select & train excellent people to work with them.
BA has done that. Look at his years in Arizona & his 1st 3 years (the 1st 2 with Bowles as his DC) were his best, even though his QB was just average. His defenses ranked #7 (2013), #5 (2014) and #7 (2015) then fell back to middle of the pack his last 2 years … #14 (2016) and #19 (2017). Arizona’s best records came in those 1st 3 years when their defense was doing well. Ironically their offenses struggled at first … #16 (2013) & #24 (2014) … then caught fire after that … #2 (2015) & #6 (2016) … before falling off a cliff (#25) in 2017. Obviously BA’s best year was 2015 (13-3) when BOTH his offense AND defense were humming.
Similar results in Tampa IMO. The 1st year was a ‘get acclimated’ year (7-9 with a #3 offense but a #29 defense (thanks largely to the offense’s 41 TOs?). But in the 2 years since then BA & this staff have put together a pretty solid team AND (hopefully) set us up pretty nicely for the future. He deserves a lot of credit for that IMO.
June 13th, 2022 at 4:08 pm
Not sure about that but at least a full-time coach anyway. Did anyone watch the defense.in the Rams game?
June 13th, 2022 at 4:16 pm
Arians quarterback whisperer hardly Palmer was experienced and of course Brady. Failed with Jameis Winston and Josh Rosen. Manning had other coaches also Tom Moore and Luck had only one year under BA. Hes a good coach but not a great coach.
June 13th, 2022 at 4:52 pm
This is by far one of the most meaningless arguments put forward……..how….before we play one game with Bowles….can it be argued that he is an upgrade from BA…
Seems to me, most all of these coaches and some of the player came to play for BA……almost none for Bowles.
Do I hope Bowles is better…..hell yes….because the only way he’s better is if he win us a SB this year.
June 13th, 2022 at 5:25 pm
I like Bowles. I liked Bruce. I still “feel” Brady determined last yrs team suffered from a lack of focus. And i still ‘feel’ Brady insisted in order to come back, despite his LOVE for Bruce the man he needed Bruce the coach replaced with someone more detail oriented. And i suspect Bruce saw and agreed maybe he wasnt at his peak performance?
I suspect Bruce did a fantastic job, but also trusted his sytem and his players to be responsible a little blindly. I SUSPECT the opinion is Todd will hold guys and the system (meaning coaches, planning, players, extraneous staff) to a higher accountability. I mean, thats what makes sense. Is it real? Who knows? Its all a friggin guess.
But NO WAY Bruce went to the combines and draft and Owners meetings and pretended to be the Coach…until Brady returned. Its a cool story. Its a cool concept that he wanted Bowles to have a season with Brady. But it smells of too much explanation. Like when you tried to explain your way out of trouble as a kid but your parents could see through the BS in spite of the perfect story.
Its all a fun sidestory. Lets go Bucs. Would LOVE to see another Super Bowl. Lets F’n Go.
June 13th, 2022 at 6:08 pm
It’s all about players
Get him good players and we win
Get him average players and we will be average
Get him crappy players and we will be crappy
June 13th, 2022 at 6:21 pm
Little is said at ESPN that isn’t based on politics or personal animus
June 13th, 2022 at 7:54 pm
Defense, coaches always need talent to win at a high level. We can accept that as an axiom. In order to distinguish the average coach, from the good, and the good from the great, we need to dig deeper. I return to Belichick, because he’s the best example of doing more with less.
When has BA exceeded expectations? When has he ever done more with less? It’s true that Bill always had Brady, but the 2011 Patriots reached the superbowl with an arena league defense. He coached those guys up, through strategy and technique. He teaches fundamentals so well, that below average players can get by simply by being in the right place at the right time. That season he used the mantra GTFB, which meant get the frig back. He realized that unless they got burned over the top, Brady could control the game.
I think BA is an average coach. I don’t know if he ever made a team better, simply with his coaching.
June 13th, 2022 at 8:14 pm
GOB 🔥🔥🔥
BA was the laziest head coach in Bucs history.
Bowles is an instant upgrade. Thank you Tom for canning BA !!
June 13th, 2022 at 8:56 pm
Better at HC? I wouldn’t think so, but time will tell.
The timing is weird. Why wouldn’t Arians tell Brady that he was retiring prior to Tommy Boy re-signing? And if he did, why wasn’t it an issue?
Sure homies, you can come up with reasons, but the timing is weird and invites speculation.
I prefer not to dwell on it. I just want it to work out for the best next season.
June 13th, 2022 at 9:19 pm
Bowles is batting 0.000. Tannenbaum would never say this if Bowles were white.
June 13th, 2022 at 9:20 pm
Bowles is batting 0.000. Tannenbaum would never say this if Bowles were white.
June 13th, 2022 at 9:28 pm
Personally I feel that Tannenbaum and others are jealous of coach Arians. First and foremost he’s had a hall of fame career and he’s been his own man and done things his own way and to hell with everyone else. While other teams were paying lip service to the hiring of minorities and women, Arians was already light years ahead of them in most cases by actually affording them opportunities. Arians is a genuine dude and it will take many more people like him in order to see actual change. Trying to legislate or shame people into doing the right thing is never going to work and only make things much worse. Our team represents an awesome blueprint for both having success and giving folks regardless of their color or gender an equal chance. I’m super proud of Bruce for what he has done for our team and he’s far and away our best coach ever.
June 13th, 2022 at 9:29 pm
Passing, I get it. We should all move on, but if Brady wanted BA coaching this team, he would be. It’s that simple. This nonsense about not wanting to leave Bowles holding a bag of poop is laughable. Not only was Bowles, (and BL) allowed to interview, BA sounded enthusiastic about coaching Blane Gabbert and or Kyle Trask. It just doesn’t add up. I wish there wasn’t so much push back about it. I’d gladly let it go
June 13th, 2022 at 9:40 pm
Go away Pats fan.
June 13th, 2022 at 9:48 pm
Don’t worry Buc 1987, I suspect after this season Brady either leaves or retires. Then, you can go back to lamentation land. I’m sure Joe appreciates the added knowledge and traffic.
June 13th, 2022 at 10:03 pm
Ben O Green is back.
He is reincarnated as GOB.
Two New England guys that act like they know it all.
Never here on the site before Brady was here.
Both haters of B.A.
Is it because they have to like Bill from New England? Got no clue.
I just agree with Sage and his opinions on B.A. over GOB and his theories on B.A.
June 13th, 2022 at 10:50 pm
geno, Why don’t you try arguing points, instead of pretending I’m some other guy? Next you’re gonna call me Mike Florio in disguise. Plenty of smart, critical thinkers here either agree with me, or at least respect my opinion.
Instead of your own insights, just say “I agree with the Sage” every time. It’ll be similar that way.
June 13th, 2022 at 11:43 pm
GOB.
I think I have put plenty of points here on the site. Not on this article.
Here are sone of your less than stellar points today:
GOB Says:
June 13th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
Most of you exceedingly overrate BA. If Brady wanted him, he’d still be the HC.
GOB Says:
June 13th, 2022 at 9:29 pm
Passing, I get it. We should all move on, but if Brady wanted BA coaching this team, he would be. It’s that simple. This nonsense about not wanting to leave Bowles holding a bag of poop is laughable (*** You idiotically say this continually ignoring the fact that B.A. said this before Brady ever got here – something you did not even know until last week).
and of course when you did not like other points:
GOB Says:
June 13th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
BlahahHa BlahahHa BlahahHa
I prefer you off the site as do others. Go back to New England. You do not know more about Bruce Arians than others here.
But here is the simple proof for B.A. You cannot win in the NFL without good coaching. Average coaching has never gotten any team at any time a Super Bowl victory. It’s just a fact that the players cannot win without a good process and plan.
June 14th, 2022 at 9:13 am
Bowles will be better than Arians . Some ppl just won’t accept it once he proves it down the road .
GoBucs!
June 14th, 2022 at 11:41 am
There are 34 coaches who have won a Super Bowl in the 56 years of Suoer Bowls and BA is among those Super Bowl Champion Head Coaches.
Bruce Arians has had a winning record being the intern Head Coach of the Colts, the Head Coach of the Cardinals and the Head Coach of the Bucs.
In statistics that is called data.
The data shows that Bruce Arians is a winner at every place he’s been the Head Coach or intern Head Coach. The GOAT in Bill Bellicheck does not have that accomplishment as he was a losing Hesd Coach for the Browns.
Those are the facts. Anybody arguing against those facts is delusional. People who argue against facts give you all kinds of “what about” rationalizations to argue against the facts of what is.
Peyton Manning, who has much greater credibility than any BA hater, stated that BA’s three years with helped make him into a HOF QB during his HOF speech.
Those people are the reason for this saying: If if and buts were candy and nuts, everyday would be Christmas.
June 14th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
We all know the reason people are calling Bowles a great coach. Unfortunately, the actual numbers say otherwise. In game decisions are what cause a team to win or lose. This guy is empty between the ears. Even the GOAT won’t help that lost cause. Might squeek in but I don’t see a Bowles led team win a title. Ever.
June 15th, 2022 at 12:03 pm
I fully expect Todd Bowles to be great. The torch has been passed. GOBUCS! Yes BA had Brady and they won a ton of games the last two years 29-10. Good coaches just need good players. Bruce got the guy they needed and he produced. No reason to think Bowles won’t do the same. GOBUCS!