“There’s Not Enough Talk About Great Finishes”
December 30th, 2020
A hint of frustration from the Bucs’ head coach
Last night, Bucco Bruce Arians sounded a lot like Raheem Morris did 10 years ago — weary with the media.
There was a great exchange from Raheem that Joe never forgot. Raheem was being grilled about how his team seemed to lack discipline, in part because of early struggles in games followed by late surges.
With fire in his voice, Raheem essentially replied that undisciplined teams are incapable of the precision under pressure it takes to deliver fourth-quarter comebacks. So don’t call his club undisciplined.
On WDAE radio yesterday, Arians expressed how he’s grown tired of slow start chatter from Bucs fans and media, referring to the Bucs’ horrible streak of poor first-quarter play.
That ended on Saturday in Detroit, and Arians was pleased but showed a little frustration.
“There’s not enough enough talk about great finishes,” Arians said.
Arians is correct. It’s too easy to lean negative, but that comes with the territory from a team that has Super Bowl goals and is sporting a dream team offense. It’s not just about the end result any longer. Consistent play is expected.
Also, Joe will defer to Arians’ former student, Peyton Manning, who famously said that fourth-quarter comebacks are nice but posting one just means your team had a bad first three quarters.
December 30th, 2020 at 10:42 am
Bucs can only beat themselves in all honesty. Hopefully they can keep improving there protections in pass blocking.
December 30th, 2020 at 10:54 am
The Bucs need to start and finish sunday with fire and intensity and keep it going thru the playoffs!
December 30th, 2020 at 10:57 am
To tell you the truth, I don’t see us going to the playoffs on a one_and_done. We can win a couple of games if not all. Go Bucs.
December 30th, 2020 at 10:59 am
Guess he is right about giving them credit for great finishes against garbage teams. It’s never been enough against playoff caliber team so he needs to be frustrated with his team and coaching staff. If you want we can give you credit for making it a game against the chiefs and scoring 3 points against the Saints I guess.
December 30th, 2020 at 11:02 am
‘Negative’ = the average Bucs fan.
Heck, even us who have been here from inception have a problem not being negative.
Myopia is a B!tch tho.
December 30th, 2020 at 11:22 am
If we score 28+ points I couldn’t care less if we get it all in the first or the fourth
December 30th, 2020 at 11:51 am
The 10-5 playoff bound 2020 Bucs are 1-5 vs teams with a winning record.
Finishing off bad teams is no great accomplishment. It’s called winning the games your supposed too.
It’s like a mid-level SEC team that goes 8-4 & is bowl eligible…Sure they beat up 4 cupcakes & all the 3rd tier SEC programs on their schedule, but are only good enough to go 1-4 vs Top25 teams.
That record gets mid-level program coaches an extension & top tier program coaches fired! So, maybe BA needs to wait until his Bucs have beaten a couple winning clubs in the playoffs before beating his chest over a lack of respect from the media.
December 30th, 2020 at 12:18 pm
It doesn’t matter if you land the first blow.
Who wins the fight is all that matters.
December 30th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
The record against winning teams narrative is played out. Green Bay and New Orleans are 3-2, Seattle 3-3, Rams 4-3 against winning teams. All of them with losses to bad teams.
Bucs are actually unique in they haven’t lost to a losing team. And fun fact, 3 of those loses were by a combined 7 points. So they’ve been competitive despite slow starts in all except that 2nd game clunker to New Orleans and you can’t say that about anyone else in the NFC.
Parity is real folks.
December 30th, 2020 at 12:48 pm
Bucs (well, at least the offense) have been getting steadily better every week. I’d love to see them get a rematch against the Saints
December 30th, 2020 at 1:41 pm
No Coach BA – slow starts are the story. You are going to have the microscope when you have the off-season we had and your performance against contending teams are what we have shown consistently.
No doubt the finishes are great but against the better teams the starts have gotten us beat.
We don’t need to defend or complain about the team starts because it’s factual.
But I get it – you feel the need to protect your team and brand of football. Personally, I’m grateful to be in the playoffs but concerned about the slow starts.