“The Officiating’s So Bad, That’s The Other Thing That Put Me In The Hospital”
September 5th, 2019
Reforming the band.
Pretty interesting detail about the hows and whys involved in Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians assembling his staff.
And a candid but not surprising confession: one reason Arians is not calling plays is he doesn’t want a repeat in Arizona of having bad health force him into retirement.
Kimberley A. Martin of Yahoo! Sports came out to One Buc Palace this summer to write a couple of features on the Bucs. One detailed how Arians assembled his staff, why he chose who he chose, and why he purposely is not being heavy-handed the way he has in the past.
… [T]his time, [Arians is] entrusting his unit to Leftwich. For the first time in his career, Arians won’t be calling the plays on gameday — a notable departure from his admitted micromanaging ways of the past.
Allowing others to lead doesn’t come naturally, but it now is a necessity. Because of his age. Because of his health (“The two things that create the most stress: injuries and officiating. The officiating’s so bad, that’s the other thing that put me in the hospital,” Arians joked).
And because he is surrounded by staffers he implicitly trusts. “I’ve always been shoulder to shoulder with him the whole time. It’s just the rest of the world didn’t know,” said Leftwich, who was Ben Roethlisberger’s backup in the 2008 and 2010 seasons when Arians was the Steelers offensive coordinator.
In the article, Martin noted Arians rarely steps into offensive meetings. He doesn’t draw up gameplans. Why? He doesn’t want to get into Leftwich’s way. That’s Leftwich’s job, Arians noted.
And what does Arians do when he comes into his office at One Buc Palace if he isn’t involved in meetings? Well, apparently Arians likes to watch TV. His favorite morning show appears to be “Good Morning Football.”
So while Leftwich may be in meetings or watching film, Arians is watching Kay Adams, Nate Burleson, Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt (Hi Kyle! :::waves wildly at Kyle Brandt::: Joe saw your shoutout last month. THANK YOU!).
Joe can think of worse things to watch than Kay Adams. That hollerfest between Screamin’ Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman springs to mind. If Joe knew Arians was watching that every morning in his office, Joe would start to wonder if Arians is heading for the old folks’ home too quickly.
More Fun from the Hall of Fame TAMPA TWO crew, presented by Caldeco Air Conditioning & Heating. Derrick Brooks and Ira Kaufman talk about the 53-man roster and touch on the opening day action against the 49ers. It’s another production from The Identity Tampa Bay and JoeBucsFan.com.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:13 am
Arians isn’t the only one watching Kay Adams!! 😁
September 5th, 2019 at 9:24 am
Didn’t realize how hands off Arians was compared to his prior regimes
September 5th, 2019 at 9:26 am
If BA starts live tweeting GMF we may have a problem.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:33 am
Joe, I was just checking my DVR guide and the Bucs aren’t being shown in Orlando this week?!?! Am I missing something? Is Orlando no longer Bucs TV territory? Say it isn’t so!!
September 5th, 2019 at 9:33 am
The Glazers must be so happy they hired another quasi GM instead in Arians instead of the qb whisperer
September 5th, 2019 at 9:34 am
Glazers have the money to hire Kay Adams as BA’s “emotional support companion”…..love to see her on the Buc sidelines….increase ratings!!!
September 5th, 2019 at 9:35 am
I don’t care how he captains the ship or what he watches on TV as long as he wins.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:38 am
That explains why he hired NFL referee to advise him. I agree the officiating has been getting worse and worse, just ask the Saints.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:41 am
If he thinks officials and injuries drive him nuts, just WAIT for Winton’s bonehead plays and off the field antics. Keep the ambulance near the sidelines!!
September 5th, 2019 at 9:45 am
Another example is Suh getting hit for a delayed push on the Brown’s QB by the NFL, but two Brown’s players both hit Jameis from either side at the same time after Jameis threw the ball, and then crickets. No call at all by the refs and no fine by the NFL though the interval from thrown ball was the same.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:47 am
Arians has enough coaches that he can appoint an asssistant head coach to
yell at the refs. All he’s gotta do is point his finger and let the bulldog loose. IT seemed like he was going to pop a vein or something more serious in a meaningless preseason game.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:04 am
Game is being aired on Fox35 as far as I saw.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:22 am
Watching Kay Adams the only star of NFL Network is always a good thing.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Joe does his TV maps on Friday and publishes them on Saturday. Those things can and do change almost hourly. So Joe hasn’t even studied them yet. Orlando has been the Bucs’ secondary TV market (way too detailed to define that here) back to the Culverhouse years.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:26 am
You have just rendered Joe’s morning unproductive.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:32 am
So he’s being paid to just hang out? Nice.
They hired him to hire a melting put coaching staff and then sit back and kick his feet up.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:41 am
Oh christ. I’m getting a really bad feeling about this season.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:55 am
Folks are over-reacting here. Bucs have needed a true head coach since Tony Dungy was unceremoniously let go 20 years ago. As in ‘someone who could see the BIG PICTURE’ … offense, defense and special teams. We now have that head coach and folks just want to bitch that he’s not micro-managing one side of the ball or the other? That’s NOT what real leaders do, and I applaud BA for finally recognizing that and changing his way of operating.
BA has put together a real (albeit large) coaching staff, one that has a chance of enduring. Tony took a similar approach, and created a coaching staff that spawned numerous HCs and top assistant coaches. Dual-hatted Gruden didn’t. Neither did Raheem, Schiano, Lovie or Koetter. All of them suffered from myopic vision, and it it ended up leading to their downfall.
Can BA & company turn this hot mess around in one year? Probably not. But he can set the foundation this year by getting this team to play some solid, hard-nosed, competitive football. More of this roster obviously needs to be ‘reloaded’ (ya right), but that won’t happen in one year. Maybe not even in two years. But it will happen IF we stay the course. Only time will tell.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:09 am
Right. Because the guy who won a Super Bowl was a fake coach. smh Meanwhile, the “real coach” was lucky if his team scored an offensive touchdown in a playoff game.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:13 am
BL will be 1 of our X-factors!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 5th, 2019 at 11:27 am
joe
the “real coach” is a 2x SB champ,had 1 losing season while coaching and is a real HOFer…..
how many rings and losing seasons does the fake coach have?…..
DR is right!!!!!….we finally have our first real HC since TONY!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 5th, 2019 at 11:47 am
If dungy was such a great coach the bucs would have been in a minimum 4 super bowls while he was here. He blew that, that doesnt make him some great coach. Dingy is an ABSOLUTE great person, doesnt make him a great HC. Gruden built 2 teams to go to the super bowl in the same season, THAT will never happen again. Now that is a great HC. Gruden sucked as a GM
September 5th, 2019 at 11:56 am
Wow…this offense is going to really suck if araisn doesnt even help with the gameplans. Why cant this team get something nice without it getting screwed up instantly.
THIS is bad….
September 5th, 2019 at 12:03 pm
yeah, letting things get to you too much takes its toll….but you have to respect his passion.
Im stepping away for a while….just saying…lost a family member…he and his family are in charleston sc….and his daughter, whose taking care of everything, is going through house damage right now due to dorian (the wind is blowing siding off)….i’ll check back in when i can, go Bucs and hope you all are good. I will be watching that first game though God willing.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:09 pm
Tony Dungy put the SB team together. He was very aware of the Bucs’ zebra history. His players were coached to be aware of the refs as well as the opposing team. One of the reasons why he’s in the HOF, and Chucky Gruden ain’t.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:10 pm
Dungy didnt put the SB team together, Sam Wyche put the SB team together
September 5th, 2019 at 12:21 pm
Bruce Arians might be the de jure head coach, but who is the de facto? Leftwich or Bowles?
September 5th, 2019 at 1:18 pm
@madmax.
Sorry for your loss. God bless.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:22 pm
@Orlbucfan… common misconception Dungy did NOT put the team together Sam Wyche did. Dungy could only muster ONE super bowl with the leagues BEST defense and the leagues best offense! (Indy) great guy would make an awesome pastor but a sub par overrated coach.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Dusthty … No question that Sam Wyche played a key role in building the Bucs, but don’t forget that Wyche had FOUR years here as a HC. He went 5-11 in 1992, 5-11 in 1993, then 6-10 in 1994 and finally 7-9 in 1995. His defensive rankings (based on POINTS ALLOWED) were #25, #26, #20 and finally #12 in 1995). Granted, that’s progress, but kinda slow progress. Just enough to get him replaced actually.
Tony Dungy’s first season started off very slow (6-10 in 1996 after a 1-8 start), but he got the team to buy into his system (especially on defense). That year they finished #8 in POINTS ALLOWED on defense, then improved to #2, #5, #3, #7, then #8 in 2001. Yes I also credit Sam with laying the foundation, but Tony built the house. Jon Gruden just lived in it, and pretty much wrecked it by the time he was through. Had it not been for Monte Kiffin running the defense, Chucky would’ve been fired long before he was finally let go.
And Joe, you seem to be a LOT more impressed with Gruden than I am. In our Super Bowl year, Monte’s defense was ranked #1 in POINTS ALLOWED (196 pts) AND #1 in YARDAGE ALLOWED (4044 yds). Chucky’s offense tanked #18 in POINTS SCORED (346 pts) … meh considering that the Bucs defense forced 38 turnovers in the regular season & another 13 turnovers in the 3 playoff games. Our regular season turnover differential was PLUS 17 and in the playoffs PLUS 9. DEFENSE won that championship.
September 5th, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Well then…
this seasons likely to head towards the drain and circle it quickly…
In the hands of coordinators who haven’t exactly been world beaters..
Way to create a team to believe in.. SMH!
September 5th, 2019 at 2:55 pm
Dungy did not get all the pieces of the puzzle to fit together. Gruden did. The trophy came to Tampa when Gruden was here not Dungy. End of story.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:06 pm
That’s a lot of money being spent on someone who just delegates. But isn’t that how it goes? The guy on top who does the least amount get the most amount. It’s like the time when I was younger I was bypassed for a supervisory position for a slacker who was incredibly slow. I asked why I didn’t get the promotion, and I was told I was to valuable in the field. In other words, I got things done, and they would have a hard time finding my replacement.
Moral of the story, sometimes hard work does not payoff. Here I was working my @ss off making half the money the new doofus was making for less work. I’m not implying Arians is a doofus by all means but he needs to be way more involved. It’s BA’s responsibility to be more involved, and making the difference, not Lefty.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:08 pm
Thank you Old School, I appreciate it.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:16 pm
dusty
if sam was so great, why didnt he have a winning season as HC for the bucs?….
and how many SB has chucky coached in?…..
tony got the RINGS and BUST
end of discussion….
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 5th, 2019 at 4:19 pm
Defense rules,
14, 6, 9 and 3.
31, 27 and 48.
The first set is the 99 – 01 Dungy led Buc offensive scoring in the playoffs.
The bottom set is Gruden’s 2002 playoffs and superbowl scores.
The regular season is one thing, the playoffs are something entirely different.
As far as Gruden wrecking the team, yes He was the Coach at the time. Do you think it would have been different with another Coach? Possible yes. But if you remember Parcells turned down the bucs last minute because His research indicated a one year window to win the superbowl then the team would begin to unravel due to the mismanagement of contracts along with an aging roster.
Perhaps things would have been different as to how it played out but ultimately the superbowl winning team would have suffered a similar fate in the long term.
One thing that can’t be dismissed too easily is the words of Brooks, Sapp, Barber and Lynch who to a man credit Gruden for being able to do what Dungy could not. Win the Superbowl in Tampa.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:38 pm
Madmax – good luck Sir and wishing you the best!
September 5th, 2019 at 4:38 pm
Bucboi,
Gruden and Dungy have been the Head Coach of a Superbowl team
the same number of times. Once.
September 5th, 2019 at 5:30 pm
Gruden added like 30 NEW players to the roster prior to winning the Super Bowl.
Without those additions that team doesn’t win jack squat…just like Dungy.
That was Jon Gruden’s team.
September 5th, 2019 at 6:04 pm
Buc 1987,
You bring up a heck of a point ! The “Gruden won with Dungy’s team” crowd tends to overlook that fact. Which is odd because it is actually something that can be used to bolster the case for Dungy.
September 5th, 2019 at 6:08 pm
Buc1987 … “That was Jon Gruden’s team”. Not hardly Buc1987. On defense, ONE starter was replaced in 2002 … Greg Spires took Marcus Jones’ spot at DE. That’s all. On offense, FIVE starters were replaced in 2002 … Michael Pittman replaced Warrick Dunn at RB, Keenan McCardell replaced Jacquez Green at WR, Ken Dilger replaced Dave Moore at TE, Roman Oben replaced Jerry Wunsch at Tackle, and Kerry Jenkins replaced Randall McDaniel at LG. On S/Ts, Tom Tupa replaced Mark Royals as Punter. Seven starters replaced out of 25 positions on offense, defense & S/Ts.
So yes, there was some turnover on the offensive side of the ball, but that occurs in just about every year. CONTINUITY on the defense made all the difference that year. Without those 50-plus turnovers, Gruden’s offense would’ve been VERY pedestrian. As it was, they only ranked #18 in POINTS SCORED in 2002 under Gruden (Dungy’s offense ranked #15 in 2001 in POINTS SCORED as a point of comparison).
No, I’m not impressed with Jon Gruden. After the SB year, his record was 45 wins, 51 losses here in 6 years. He did make it to the postseason twice; both as Wildcards. Lost both. His offense scored 10 pts in one playoff game and 14 pts in the other. Yup, that’s an offensive genius alright. THAT was the real Jon Gruden’s team. Color me not-impressed, just like I’m not impressed with what he’s doing with the Raiders now.
September 5th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
I really liked Dungy and Gruden both, despite their flaws. I’m so glad they coached our team. Same with Sam Wyche. But my favorite is the original, Coach McKay. That man took us from less than nothing and got us to playoff games that we had no business being in. He was one hell of a football coach. I sincerely hope we’ll be able to say that about Bruce Arians one of these days.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:12 pm
Thank you 74….very much appreciated.