Learning The Value Of Bruce Arians
February 22nd, 2023
Underrated.
There is a damn good reason this man has his name enshrined in the Ring of Honor.
When Bucco Bruce Arians ran the Bucs, he tried to tell all who would listen he barely did anything during game weeks. He made it sound as if he worked on pouring glasses of Crown Royal on the rocks each day after practice rather than working on gameplans.
Just watching practice and how, um, interactive he was with players, especially when someone screwed up, Joe didn’t buy that notion then. And Joe surely doesn’t buy that concept now.
Mike Jones of The Athletic typed a column about what he learned from each team in the 2022 season. With the Bucs, Jones learned this: Arians was much more heavily involved than he claimed.
Bruce Arians had more to do with Tampa Bay’s success than anyone gave him credit for. Thinking Tom Brady and Byron Leftwich could handle the offense on their own, and that Todd Bowles could juggle head coach duties and the running of an aging defense, now seems like a great miscalculation.
“Miscalculation?” More like major malfunction. Oh, Bowles did a nice job with the defense, especially with all the injuries and how he lost his best pass rusher midseason.
The overtime loss at Cleveland, a game in which the Bucs never really seemed to recover, when Bowles took the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands, well, maybe that was evidence to what Jones referred to: Bowles having too much responsibility.
Now that Bowles has had an opportunity to pick his own coaches, let’s see what he does. It seems obvious that the Super Bowl window has slammed shut, however.
It’s almost as obvious as Arians having more to do with the Bucs winning a Super Bowl than he ever admitted.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:06 am
Clearly Leftwich never ran that offense while BA was there. That might explain why BA was so hellbent on getting Leftwich a HC job before anyone figured out he couldn’t actually do his current job as OC.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:19 am
Chum for suckers
BA is the single biggest reason for last season’s malaise
He damn sure did not do enough to be in the ROH
One and done
One and run
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:24 am
BA changed the culture of this football team, lest we forget. Look at the expectations NOW!!!!
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:31 am
BA was great but he had alot more talent on both sides of the ball than Bowles had/has. This draft could make a big difference – time for Bucs to get younger and restock for a future run.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:43 am
Love his style, personality and coaching ability. Always an interesting take.
Oh…. for Clarity, talking about Arians.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:43 am
Arians was an incredible coach. Best we’ve ever had.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:51 am
The total dumpster fire that the Bucs were without Arians has to hurt Eric Bienemy. No one thinks he is running that offense either.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:55 am
Arians looks like Vince Lombardi next to Bowles.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:59 am
SB~LV, BA brought us another Super Bowl. That alone puts him in the ROH.
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:00 am
Have to hope the Glazers find the right man after Bowles, otherwise its another decade of depression.
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:09 am
SB~LV
Dude what in the h3ll are you talking about?!
First off you can hate the man for having a heart condition if you want but bud it’s POOR FORM! If the guy could have kept it going he would have. You forget. He’s a FAR bigger ego maniac than his children Bowles and Leftwich and certainly DIDN’T WANT GIVE UP his chance at living his dream and building his legacy.
Bowles and Leftwich are to blame for what happened. And since they gave the head coach job to Bowles for reasons we will probably never know, Leftwich lost his entire mind over it. Seems we’ve run into a deep rooted hate between the two (Bowles and Leftwich) that nobody outside of a very tight circle had a clue about.
That’s NOT BA’s fault. He can’t control how every full grown man is going to conduct his life once he is Forced to move on.
What IS on Licht and the Glazers is the fact they didn’t do something about it!
BA doesn’t own the team. He was not and is not the GM. He WAS however in All likelihood the Very Best Head Coach that the “Buccaneers” have ever had and since I’m “assuming” that you have a soft spot in your heart like me about our team, at least get behind the RESPECT and EXCITEMENT and Whole Lot More that BA “did bring” into mine and your miserable football lives.
Do you not even sort of remember how it was before we got BA here?
Hey SB~LV as a brother Buccaneer lover, maybe I’m missing something here and you have info I’ve never heard of before. What is it? What did the man that brought my Sundays from almost tears and puking weekly to HUGE AND MASSIVE SMILES AND PRIDE and like I said, the EXCITEMENT of what’s next do to break your heart? What did he do so wrong that everytime he’s mentioned, you or someone as short sighted, pulls up the short bus to run him over with? Masochism or something? Because it’s NOT ADDING UP!
You’ve got your sights lined up on the wrong target.. To suggest that he threw away his ENTIRE CAREER and besides breathing air and possibly some NICE libations, what got him out of bed EVERY DAY. Well, I just don’t get the hate for him. Never will man. Not in his case.
I just don’t get it. I need more coffee
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:19 am
@Anonymous I agree with a lot of your sentiment for BA and what he accomplished for the franchise as well as his health issues being a huge factor in his decision to retire from coaching.
Although, what you’re suggesting is Byron sabotaged Todd Bowles out of jealousy for not being selected as the successor to BA.
How do you know that to be true? If it was the case, why didn’t Todd fire Byron mid-way through the season when he had the chance?
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:20 am
Every insider said Brady was coming back. Brady said he was going to take time not make a quick decsion like last time. Well he did the exact same thing as last time even consulting with Yoko about what to do. Yoko of course said to retire. Now Brady has become Daddy Day care with a bunch of kids skiing and Gisele is partying in Carnival. I might be the last human being that wants Brady to unretire and play this year but thats what I want
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:29 am
Arians is Canales ONLY saving grace right now!
Hopefully with Arians around Canales can seek advice from time to time and help mold him and develop him into an amazing play caller…
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:48 am
Put Chuckie’s name back in the Ring Of Honor. It should have never been taken down! You can’t take away something he earned!
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:58 am
Is Bowels really picking his own coaches? As in having the final word? I cannot fathom Bucs Brass having that much confidence in him. Surely he is on a short leash after such an underachieving 2022 season.
February 22nd, 2023 at 10:02 am
The loss of Ali Marpet hurt us more then most here realize.
He was a very athletic Guard with great pulling ability.
February 22nd, 2023 at 10:05 am
Joe isn’t sure there is any head coach in the NFL that doesn’t pick his own coaches. Most guys would never agree to sign a contract where they can’t pick their coaches.
February 22nd, 2023 at 10:32 am
A Buc fan,
Well I do feel that’s ultimately what happened. Keeping it simple because I’m just not in the mood to fight crazies over a my theory all day.
Wrapping it in a word that fits and makes the most sense is Jealousy. But I’ve got to say,, MANY WORDS WOULD AND COULD APPLY..
“Jealousy” Old as time. Heck, might as well throw in all the deadly sins while we’re at it but jealousy makes the MOST sense.
I’m working with what I see there. And I’m aware that I’m not going to be able to cover every single aspect of all the ins and outs, and I don’t get paid a penny for it so it’s not worth a freaking Holy War over my opinion. But… yes. I DO believe in was ultimately “sabotage” by Leftwich.
The devil is in the details as always but more in this case, The “Lack of” a plan, when it came to the game plan may not have been as simple! EVEN THAT HAD TO BE PLANNED!
Now, it maybe easy for many to claim he was an Absolute simpleton. And he forgot everything he EVER learned. I mean, THAT’S A Come On Man Momment! He’d have to be DRUGGED OUT OF HIS MIND to “CONTINUE” to call the concepts he ruined his career with, without doing that on purpose! A High School Child could have come up far more creative concepts than that man called repeatedly, series after series, back to back foolishness, over and over again?
The man was the Main Offensive Coach of a team that he ran and supervised a Super Bowl winning season. The next season he was the OC of a team that finished 13 /4 and a hair from another Super Bowl appearance. (It was Bowles blunder that ruined it for us in the end after all) And SINCE it was Bowles who blew chunks, why in Leftwich’s eyes, just like many think, would he be gifted the job versus Leftwich? Leftwich WAS in consideration for the Head Coach job in Jacksonville after all. More than that, it’s possible that Bowles was NEGLECTING his duties as the Defensive Head because he was busy “INTERVIEWING” all over the place instead of focusing on what was MOST important to EVERYONE ELSE. “Winning the Super Bowl” that was at OUR FINGERTIPS…. Who knows how the season would have turned out if Bowles wasn’t AS CONCERNED with his next gig. We May Have Done the Almost Impossible and RAN IT BACK FOR ONE MORE! It was at our fingertips… If ONLY Bowles would have wanted like everybody else. You CAN’T serve Two Masters after all.
I’m gonna leave it there for now. Plenty more to point out but I gotta roll. Hope that helps a little to get a taste and clarity of why “Sabotage”
February 22nd, 2023 at 11:37 am
Arians QUITTING on the Bucs just to set up HIS guys with jobs is why he doesn’t deserve the Ring of Honor. He put HIS guys future ahead of the future of the franchise and team.
His staff is made up of his friends and former players, NOT the best available coaches. He carried the subpar offensive staff and left the team in a bad spot just to make sure his guys were unemployed that is INEXCUSABLE as a fan. Arians knew deep down Bowles and Leftwich had no business being in charge and no other franchise would employ them.
Good coach and appreciate the Super Bowl but he is mainly responsible for the awful 2022 season.
February 22nd, 2023 at 12:23 pm
Ok Todd. You have YOUR coaches now. So when u go 5-12 this upcoming season nobody can say he didn’t have his own guys there anymore. Like anybody believed that made a difference in his abilities as a HC. Give me a break.
February 22nd, 2023 at 1:19 pm
Said it all season, but go game by game, and tell me which games the Bucs are still losing if Arians was the coach instead of the Leftwich/Bowles disaster.
The answer was two… the Chiefs and the 49ers games, that’s it. They’d have been 15-2. Don’t believe me, look back at the schedule, go game by game, tell me where I’m wrong, where Arians isn’t the difference between winning and losing.
In the playoffs, I think the only NFC team beating the Bucs was the 49ers, but not if they were playing their 4th string QB, or a 3rd stringer that literally can’t throw the ball.
In other words, with the disaster of a season that we just saw, had Arians stuck around, I think they’re back in the SB, and I don’t see them losing to the Chiefs twice in the same season.
February 22nd, 2023 at 1:23 pm
Joe Says:
February 22nd, 2023 at 10:05 am
Is Bowels really picking his own coaches?
Joe isn’t sure there is any head coach in the NFL that doesn’t pick his own coaches. Most guys would never agree to sign a contract where they can’t pick their coaches.
———-
But that’s the thing, Bowles was handed a SB-caliber team on March 30th of last year and just told not to screw anything up, and he could make changes after the season. Arians set him up for success, thought he was giving him a sure fire can’t miss team.
I don’t believe for a second that Bowles had any say on offense, and certainly couldn’t have fired Leftwich during the season with Licht and Arians giving him the OK, which wasn’t going to happen, at least not with Arians.
February 22nd, 2023 at 2:13 pm
BA gave us this mess…….. it will take 3-5 yrs for Bucs to be in playoffs..
I don’t think he deserves to be in ROH either..
February 22nd, 2023 at 2:28 pm
That sounds about right to me Rod. Plus….
Bowles DEFINITELY would have and should have fired him. There are only 2 people who could “actually” stop that from happening. Imagine how Bowles must have felt about that…
Arians? Who really knows what he “suggested” BUT he didn’t have the power to stop Bowles from saving himself from Leftwich.
EVEN if IF my theory was off the mark and it was “pure and unadulterated” stupidity, and not jealousy and even harsher words, why didn’t Bowles fire him regardless? Only 2 people can stop that from happening.
My question has only ever been why? Why not get rid of Leftwich in time, NO MATTER the reason (jealousy, or short bus rider) either way, it SHOULD HAVE been done by mid season at the latest…
February 22nd, 2023 at 2:36 pm
Secretly I’m hoping Joe might be able to stumble apon something interesting in the regard. “Why stop Bowles from getting rid of Leftwich”
I mean the only other option is that Bowles refused to send him packing.
February 22nd, 2023 at 3:22 pm
BA is the man. Everyone always says football is an emotional game, yet very few coaches seem to understand how to ride that wave. BA is one of em.
February 22nd, 2023 at 4:23 pm
I’ll always appreciate Arins for his 2 excellent years.
February 22nd, 2023 at 7:39 pm
Arians reminds me of Vince Lombardi. Same style of coaching and a passion for winning. The best thing that’s happened to the Bucs in a long time.
February 23rd, 2023 at 7:50 am
I think the biggest reason Tampa Bay suck this year is because Bruce Aaron’s gave a head coaching job to someone who clearly did not have a clue. Just look at the way this team played this year. This team was not prepared and you can blame the other coaches, but isn’t it the head coach’s job to make sure they do their job. You making someone a head coach because you’re a friend is bullsh** and look at the results.
February 23rd, 2023 at 12:41 pm
Anonymous hit the nail just right. I’ve been saying this since mid season Leftwhich was just beside himself that he did not get the head coach job. He did put in longer hours and he was more focused then Todd Bowles during the 2021 season, and when they handed the head coaching job to Bowles Leftwitch threw his hands up. That being coupled with Tom Brady not being focused enough because of his divorce, he’s not super man, most certainly affected him throughout the season. That being said Leftwich put together very vanilla and boring game plans. Our 2022 season was doomed.
February 23rd, 2023 at 1:56 pm
Everyone’s is wrong. Leftwhich called the plays right after BA told him which play he wanted before every snap.
February 23rd, 2023 at 3:31 pm
Great coach. Terrible post-job legacy leaver. He should either come back as head coach or move out of team headquarters.