Bruce Arians Created The New Spring Football?
June 7th, 2021
Innovator.
So the Bucs having unsupervised veteran practices at One Buc Palace is the wave of the future? That’s what Albert Breer of SI.com thinks.
And it is all thanks to Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians and park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller-coaster-scared, numbers-rules-peeved, Bucs-Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady.
We know Arians wanted the players to work out at One Buc Palace for safety reasons, but Breer’s story seemed to indicate the Brady workouts were structured, in part, with input from Arians.
The Bucs’ coach was worried about the players getting injured. And if they got injured working out away from One Buc Palace, that could jeopardize losing cash or worse. So Arians pestered Brady to hold the workouts at One Buc Palace. In fact, two weeks ago, this happened on a Friday afternoon and Arians wasn’t even in town.
Breer spoke with Bucs center Ryan Jensen and got details of the workouts in a follow-up story this morning. Apparently the workouts are overseen by Brady’s long-time personal trainer, Alex Guerrero.
“Tom’s done it for long enough and he always has his trainer there,” Jensen says. “When I was there, I was just snapping him the ball. But with all the guys running routes, Alex would always be there. Obviously he’s there for Tom, but he’s also watching the receivers run, and he noticed when they started to get tired. And when skill guys get tired, and their legs turn to jelly, that’s when they start pulling muscles.
“That’s when Alex would be like, O.K., he’s done, he’s done, he’s done—you’ve had enough work. That’s huge having Tom there, who has all that experience, running the practice, running the routes. And then you have Alex there, who’s been with Tom for a lot of years and recognizes those things, to help prevent guys from getting hurt.”
Jensen praised Arians for looking out for the players and being flexible and willing to work with Brady on setting up the workouts.
Jensen also told Breer that he felt a lot better physically last year because there was basically no offseason, no preseason and a shortened training camp.
Per the NFLPA by way of Breer, injuries in the NFL were down 23 percent, concussions were down 30 percent and there was a 45 percent decrease in heat-related illnesses in 2020. Yet points were up last year and penalties were down.
The NFLPA points to no offseason workouts, no preseason and the condensed training camp as direct factors. This is why the NFLPA is so adamant in having only virtual offseasons.
“This Joe” has long railed against the worthless preseason games as an affront to thinking NFL fans. Last year was proof positive how stupid preseason games are, needlessly putting players (you know, investments) at unneccesary risk.
As usual, there can be a compromise. Go to an 18-game schedule with two bye weeks, get rid of the preseasons once and for all and only players on rookie contracts are required to have regular offseason workouts.
Meanwhile, props to Arians to compromising with his own team’s veterans, and at the same time further winning his players’ loyalty. That’s how smart men, champions, do things.
June 7th, 2021 at 9:12 am
Cool on Arians…I understand Tom is trying to save face with his pro union stance but it seems that Arians idea of doing their “player only” workouts but at One Buc and no coaches is or was the best idea for the players #1 and the team, but whatever I guess it all worked out. BA and his time with the Bear shows up all the time.
June 7th, 2021 at 9:25 am
This would only work with a hand full of rosters….no problem with the right guys
June 7th, 2021 at 9:40 am
Interesting. The Patriots’ training staff got tired of Guerrero contradicting them, and when he started advising some players to do stretchy bands instead of lifting weights he eventually got banned from the facility. See how it goes.
June 7th, 2021 at 9:43 am
Nobody is doing off-season practices for Kyle Trask this is all Brady just like it was last offseason.
June 7th, 2021 at 9:57 am
Alex Guerrero should be the QB coach too & give Clod Christianson his walking papers
June 7th, 2021 at 9:59 am
The league has done a masterful job of creating a year round schedule for constant press….my guess is they dont want to drift away from what has worked so well. Tough call…..the data clearly favors the players health, that’s hard to overlook. IMO…it would be fun to watch the depth chart players battle it out from start to finish of each preseason game. I dont think there’s much interest in watching Brady run 5-10 scripted/vanilla plays against a defense that’s equally as vanilla but to watch Trask battle Gabbert for the back up spot, that would be interesting.
June 7th, 2021 at 10:02 am
After Belichick banned Alex Guerrero from the Patriot’s practice facility, he opened up his own practice facility just down the road, where several Patriot players, to include Brady worked out there. The guy was popular among many players and it has benefited Brady as he is playing many years longer than most QBs.
June 7th, 2021 at 10:38 am
Highly experienced QBs like Tom Brady can make a lot of things work that less experienced, less talented QBs would butcher. Can anyone imagine if this exact situation played out in 2015 when 20-year-old Jameis was anointed as our savior QB as soon as he was drafted? I’d expect that the results would’ve been totally different from what Tom Brady can achieve.
And Joe, I’m not a fan of preseason games either, but pro football is a business, and making money is its’ bottom line. An 18-game regular season versus a 16-game regular season PLUS 4-games preseason means that someone (the owners?) are missing out on some $$$ (since the NFL ridiculously chooses to charge full price for preseason games?). Less $$$ for the owners will translate into less $$$ for the players when all is said & done. And since most starters don’t really play all that much in the preseason games, I suspect they may not be as pro the 18-game regular season option as some in the media assume. Actually I’m surprised the NFLPA agreed to the 17-game season.
June 7th, 2021 at 11:00 am
Preseason to me is to watch if and who at the bottom of the roster can play. Griff and Hudson are preseason legend. Hudson made the team thanks to those games.
June 7th, 2021 at 11:00 am
“Per the NFLPA by way of Breer, injuries in the NFL were down 23 percent, concussions were down 30 percent and there was a 45 percent decrease in heat-related illnesses in 2020. Yet points were up last year and penalties were down.”
It’s not a coincidence. The NFL off-season dates back to relics from the past who think manhood is based on pushing your body beyond safe limits.
No, the answer is not more regular season games. It is targeted conditioning and recognition of the limits of the human body. Have two bye weeks. One at weeks 5 and 6, with half the teams off on week 5 and half the teams off on week 6, and repeat during weeks 12 and 13.
Training camp should be more about instruction and less about conditioning.
June 7th, 2021 at 11:30 am
“Per the NFLPA by way of Breer, injuries in the NFL were down 23 percent, concussions were down 30 percent and there was a 45 percent decrease in heat-related illnesses in 2020. Yet points were up last year and penalties were down.”
That in itself should seal the deal for the NFLPA, but they’ve got a big obstacle to overcome, loss of revenue from pre-season. So like you suggest Joe, go to 18 games. They would still be 2 games (pre-season) short of the 20 game television broadcasts, but they could always throw in a new Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday night game from Europe.
June 7th, 2021 at 12:58 pm
How TB12 is changing the NFL via the Bucs …
1. QBs involved in personnel decisions.
2. QBs designing and implementing plays/schemes.
3. Players only private offseason training camps.
4. Reduced QB salary for more team talent.
June 7th, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Brady and maybe a handful of other quarterbacks, can pull this off, but it’s not for every team. I think that 18 regular season games and 2 preseason games is the sweet spot. Put an asterisk next to every record going forward and call it a day.
June 7th, 2021 at 2:33 pm
Pre-season games are useful and important to players and coaches for a # of reasons.
Player eval in live game conditions being the most important.
NFLPA has already gotten the amount of actual football – with full hitting, tackling, blocking, etc – down to such a small specified # of practices within a year – that the coaches don’t get nearly enough opportunities leading up to the season to see what Linemen and Lbers and physical DBs can really play like when the action is live.
Sure – you can watch the QB and receivers play pitch and catch during the offseason – sometimes even against “defenders” in 11 on 11. But until actual hitting and blocking and tackling is allowed – its just “underwear football” and nothing practically but mental reps and going through the motions for OL, DL and LBers. Any player who’s forte is physicality is completely hampered by this setup.
If you are a young, physical football player trying to make an NFL roster – you have about a dozen training camp practices and these games during the pre-season to try and show how your physical play translates to film.
The REAL problem with pre-season games is not that they exist. The problem is that NFL teams charge full price for “exhibition” games – the outcomes of which beyond eval and ‘tune up’ purposes are meaningless.
June 9th, 2021 at 4:13 pm
Pre-Season games have never been counted as far as standings go , however injuries DO count towards the regular Season . If the NFL demands those games only for added revenue then I think the players in those games should be limited to only players who are on the “bubble” to make the 53 man roster . It absolutely SUCKS to lose a starter from an injury in a meaningless “Exhibition” game . Those games mean nothing more to the NFL than $$$$ .