Bruce Arians: “We Barely Knew What The Heck We Were Doing”
November 6th, 2020
Joe wonders what hardcore gamblers might think when they read this and think back to their early wagers on the Bucs.
Twice this week, once on his radio show and once on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Bucco Bruce Arians explained that his offense has improved so much from opening day, in part because it was quite clueless in Week 1 against the Saints.
“Offensively, we barely knew what the heck we were doing,” Arians said of his first meeting with New Orleans.
“We turned it over twice, and the kicking game was horrendous in that ballgame.”
It’s noteworthy that Arians mentioned the kicking game. He added that special teams overall have improved greatly since Week 1, and Joe thinks that could be a huge key on Sunday night against the Saints.
Sean Murphy-Bunting missed a couple of special teams tackles against the Giants, but overall, the Bucs have significantly narrowed what was a massive gap with the Saints in the area of special teams.
As for the Bucs offense, after dissecting the comments of Arians and players and looking at the film, Joe thinks it’s safe to say the Saints will be taking on a Bucs offense they’ve never seen before.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:09 am
I sure hope this is true and hope the Saints think they are playing against the same offense as in the first game. I’m more worried about how our D is going to stop those quick passes and limiting YAC by Kamara. The Defense has to take risks and get to the QB and Winfield, not White, needs to be the spy on Kamara.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:15 am
The Bucs need to win on the offensive and defensive line to win this game. That’s been tough to do against the Saints the past few years. Here’s hoping we are able to win in the trenches this time around.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:21 am
That headline made me think he was talking about the Giants game. Didn’t look very good in that one – except for the kicker. Hope they are ready for Sunday.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:29 am
The Giants exposed our defense to quick slants and running up the gut. It reminded me of the former days with Mike Smith and playing 8 feet off the WRs.
Bowles did not have an answer and we improved only slightly in the second half. Hope we can rebound and save face.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Davis needs to lockdown thomas. Winfield on kamara and white or LVD on cook. Edwards should be starter and roll help over the top on deans side for the double move. Find a way to take the quick shot away, that is what brees does best. Force him to drive the ball 20+ downfield consistently. Finally, bring pressure up middle, dont give brees a cean pocket
November 6th, 2020 at 12:13 pm
if the OL isn’t blocking we ain’t winning. Just the reality…
November 6th, 2020 at 12:37 pm
I hope to God Marpet can play. Does anyone know his status?
November 6th, 2020 at 12:54 pm
“Joe thinks it’s safe to say the Saints will be taking on a Bucs offense they’ve never seen before.”
Sorry Joe, but I don’t think that’s possible in today’s NFL, and particularly so for division opponents. The Bucs’ starters Sunday night will most likely be exactly the same personnel as started in the 1st Saints game. The only real subtractions during the course of the game will most likely be OJ, Watson & McCo and only OJ got some significant playing time. Plus we’ll have Brown available, and surely Fournette will get more snaps (only got 9 snaps first game).
Bucs’ offense has turned more to the short passing game since the 1st Saints game, but I think the Saints have figured that out by watching film. The story of that first game was TURNOVERS … Bucs made 3; Saints made 0. Saints scored 13 pts off of those TOs, largely because of great field position, and that was pretty much the difference in the ballgame. And yes, S/Ts play really sucked in that game.
Bucs are (hopefully) much improved since that first game of the season, but I seriously doubt we’ll sneak up on the Saints. They know exactly who we are (and vice versa), and this’ll be another dogfight. Hopefully, unlike in our game against the Giants, we remember to bring the dog this time.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
“Joe thinks it’s safe to say the Saints will be taking on a Bucs offense they’ve never seen before.”
you are exactly right joe…
the offense the saints are used to seeing involves TOs….
im confident BL will bring out new looks that the offense wasnt to execute earlier in the season due to unfamiliarity….
offense will put up 30+, defense has to do its part…
GO BUCS!!!!
November 6th, 2020 at 1:41 pm
Lets just hope BA is not getting too overconfident. Remember Brees also looked a little rusty in that opening game.
November 6th, 2020 at 2:01 pm
“Is this thread a putdown of Matt Gay and the LGBT community?
Looks like we won
#rainbow power”
Matt Gay
November 6th, 2020 at 2:45 pm
@813bucboi … “offense will put up 30+, defense has to do its part…”
I have no doubt that you’re 100% right bucboi. If our danged defense hadn’t committed those 3 turnovers AND surrendered a blocked punt we could’ve won that first game. Those 13 pts were the difference between winning & losing.
What’s that you say? It wasn’t the defense who committed those faux pas? Oh wow, you’re right again bucboi. My bad. Now you’ve got me wondering though just how good our offense really is without our defense feeding them great field position off of turnovers. It occurs to me that the 2 games we’ve lost are the only 2 games this year in which we’ve either lost or tied the TO battle. Pure coincidence I’m sure.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:22 pm
The weather is going to make this a low scoring game! This is going to be wet, sloppy football. Which team will do better in those conditions? I sure hope Arians is making the team practice wet ball drills.
November 7th, 2020 at 11:10 am
Rule #1. Get the ball out of Brady’s hand in 3 seconds or less 80% of the time on passing plays.
We now have 3 speedy WR’s in Godwin, Brown and Miller. Hit them in stride on out routes, slants and the like. Use that later for double moves and let our speed and Tom’s accuracy kill them.
Rule #2. Establish the run with more creative plays that get us 4+ yards per carry. Time to abandon so many up the middle run on 1st. YES, lots of teams do it but WE”RE not very successful at it. So time to mix it up!
Rule #3. Brady is the master of play action and should use it for many of the other 20% of pass plays and hit whoever is open or under matched by a #2 or 3 DB.
Rule #4. Defense needs to play this one like MAD DOGS! Defend every blade of grass! Pester and confuse Brees. Reduce our cushion on their wide outs. Stay aggressive. Brees will undoubtedly make us pay for it a few times as he reads defenses as well as Brady but at some point he’ll misjudge under pressure and we’ll have a chance to intercept. 1 pick could be the difference in a game like this.
Rule #5. This is potentially the same as a playoff game. Brady has a TON of experience in these types of games and that should help us. Every man in a Bucs uniform that steps on that field Sunday needs to play like it!