“The Stupidity Has To Go Away If We Are To Go Anywhere”
November 15th, 2021
Stumped.
The following is harsh but Joe is taking the baton Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians raised yesterday in his postgame press conference.
There is an old saying that you can’t fix stupid. From the words of Arians, that’s what he has on his hands.
Of course, after a week off for the team heads screwed on straight after many dumb penalties in New Orleans, on the very first play the Bucs get whistled for jumping offsides on defense.
It didn’t get much better. So Arians was asked about correcting this.
(Background: Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Dave Moore said yesterday he could see from the Bucs’ body language prior to the game they thought they had a win before kickoff. Moore said his fears were confirmed, in part, when he watched the Bucs commit a penalty on the first play from scrimmage. That told Moore the Bucs’ heads weren’t ready to play and not in the right place. Arians basically confirmed this saying the team lacked energy and a passion to play.)
“Energy and passion is very fixable,” Arians said. “The penalties, they have to get corrected sooner or later. The first play of the game they are shifting, and we jump offsides, they aren’t even ready to run a play and we jump offsides.
“The stupidity has to go away if we want to go anywhere.”
Arians doubled down on the lack of smarts line of thinking and said that is ultimately a reflection of him and his coaching staff.
“It has nothing to do with ability,” Arians said. “It is all about execution and being a smart football team. We are a great dumb football team and that is a reflection of the coaches.”
So how do you fix this? Bench guys? Joe isn’t sure the Bucs have the luxury to sit good players if they screw up. Make them run gassers in practice? As Arians once quipped about doing that to punish players, he might get thrown in jail.
Joe doesn’t know how you fix stupid. Arians and his staff better find a way before this season implodes.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:14 am
OJ Howard set the tone for the afternoon on the first place…..waste of a first round pick….ughhhhhh
November 15th, 2021 at 9:15 am
You have to wonder if the restrictions from Covid last year forced players to do nothing but live and breathe football, where this year normalcy has returned and old habits have crept their way back into the scene. The injuries are taking their toll, terrible execution by offensive players is killing us. The Darden fumble was just pitiful. We had a similar play with the Saints….no matter who you have at QB, if the team around them is constantly killing drives/momentum, there’s not much the QB can do.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:15 am
Yeah, bench some guys. O.J. might as well taken a seat on the bench he didn’t do anything all game. More to the point, there isn’t much you can do till next season. These are the players we have. Hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the right move bringing everybody back. This team looks old, and tired. Well paid, fat, and happy with their rings, and big contracts. No hunger, or urgency. Time to flip this roster with some new blood.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:16 am
Pete’s been saying that certain players on this team have a low IQ football wise. Dumb players cost you games
November 15th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Again-
You can pick on the beat up D and Bowles all you want- the offense is mostly responsible for losing this game.
1st half- 5 offensive possessions- 2 turnovers, 2 FG’s.
2nd half- 4 offensive possessions- 2 TD’s
True, the 10 minute drive by WFT in 4th quarter was the main factor. But consider the following-
WFT had 34 rushes compared to Bucs 13 rushes
WFT controlled time of possession 39 minutes-21.
Evans had 3 targets the whole game . Fournette had 9 targets- seriously??
Poor game plan and bad execution on offense put Bucs in another 1st half hole they couldn’t overcome.
And like it or not, Heinicke’s play was excellent.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:31 am
If the defense can’t get off the field on 3rd down that is their fault. They extend drives. Missed tackles and allow open receivers.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:34 am
That’s a really interesting take, Bobby M. There could be something to that.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:34 am
It was a bad game by everyone coaches included.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:36 am
Joe… if they are talented and stupid, sit them. You aren’t going anywhere with the big talk, stupid playing guys. So at least send a message to the salvageable guys that it is either play smart, or don’t play. No matter who you are.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:37 am
When you lose to bad teams like Washington, it actually empowers all our future opponents.
After all, if Washington can beat us so easily, in their minds they should be able to as well.
Yes, we were the invincible Super Bowl Champions, almost unbeatable.
But now we have 3 losses, and one to a Crap team, so that aura of invincibility is long gone.
The Bucs can be beaten, and now there is plenty of Tape on exactly how to do it.
Not Good!
November 15th, 2021 at 9:37 am
I thought Brady’s leadership would prevent games like this
November 15th, 2021 at 9:38 am
That L was costly. I don’t know if they can get in position for a second seed. At this point they have to run the table.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:41 am
Brady got drilled on his first pass attempt and played scared the rest of the game.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:43 am
“The Stupidity Has To Go Away If We Are To Go Anywhere” — Does that man Bruce Arians will be leaving the Bucs ? 🙂
November 15th, 2021 at 9:43 am
I need to change my name.
It isn’t over, but if Vea is out for a stretch, we are fooked.
O will get back to scoring when gronk, ab are back. Have to keep Godwin healthy also.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:44 am
Less than 20% of NFL teams in history overcome 2 score deficits at halftime
Bucs trailed Saints and WFT by 9 and 10 points at half- mostly because of inept offense and turnovers.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:45 am
Maybe just remove the name plates from the back of every players jersey and replace it with the word Stupid.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:45 am
“The Stupidity Has To Go Away If We Are To Go Anywhere” —- does that mean BA has to go ? 🤣
November 15th, 2021 at 9:45 am
‘Joe doesn’t know how you fix stupid. Arians and his staff better find a way before this season implodes.’
Perhaps that’s why there’s only ONE Super Bowl champion at the end of each season? ONE team figures it out; 31 teams don’t.
November 15th, 2021 at 9:53 am
This team has always had this problem of playing down to lesser teams. Right now these coaches are doing a piss poor job of play calling and the players are not doing basic fundamentals. Turn your head around when playing corner…..tackling and running to the football. We are flat footed, unaware of situations and continue to screw ourselves. Yesterday every bounce went to Washington. The refs do us no favors either. I can’t tell you how many non calls have gone on but I’ll tell you this. It’s blatant. How do u stand on the sideline and not call that face mask. How do u not call holding on that team once all game when I’m watching the o line literally dragging v.v by the neck and Shaq. It’s freaking ridiculous. That pick by Brady is the same route he threw at new orleans. Completely misses Evans just like Godwin. I’m afraid of this giants game bc honestly this team still thinks it can just show up. One last thing, I’m going to publicly call out jpp, this dude decides regularly to party and drink till 4 am here. And we wonder why we look sh*t. Yes he’s playing injured but how many other guys are doing this crap Saturday night before we play. Not exactly conducive to being 100% on a Sunday while you’re out getting Crunk.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:00 am
Arians needs to get off his golf cart and coach
November 15th, 2021 at 10:02 am
@#8 … ‘It isn’t over, but if Vea is out for a stretch, we are fooked.’
And yet last year Bucs went on a 6-game winning streak BEFORE Vea returned for the last 2 playoff games. Obviously we’re much better off with him in the lineup, but I’m starting to wonder if too many of these guys are waiting for OTHER players to make big-time plays. MAYBE when you lose a big dog the others decide they’d better step it up if they expect to go anywhere.
If I had to rate our defense right now, I’d say that our Secondary is at best average (that’s not the mark of a SB champion in my world). Our ILBs are playing at about a little above average, but not that much. Our OLBs have been performing below average for most of this season (not impressed). Our DLine guys (Vea & Suh especially) have been playing above average for the most part, but they kinda disappear for stretches on end. Overall we’re an average defense at best, which is pretty much what our #17 defensive ranking says we are (based on Points Allowed).
Unfortunately we’re old up-front (Suh 34, JPP 32, LVD 31, Gholston 30, Shaq 29 with McLendon 35 thrown in for good measure) and we’re asking those guys to give us a BUNCH of defensive snaps each game. It looks like Father Time is talking his toll (towards the end of games especially) because of that.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:03 am
Arians needs to lay off the sauce and get back to the old way of coaching. Every time they showed him yesterday, except once with the officials, he was calm and not yelling. Some needs to put their foot in this teams a$$ before they fall off the cliff next Monday. It should start with Arians.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:10 am
Stupid starts with the head. Keep players engaged by changing game plan up and making in game adjustments, control clock by running…rbs averaged over 4 yds/carry yesterday, yet they ran 13x, change up coverage and get aggressive at los. Stupid is exactly what I thought when I saw the game plan that took them 2 weeks to come up with
November 15th, 2021 at 10:11 am
Deactivate OJ Howard. That was an unforgivable jump after a bye week.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:36 am
It is said that a Fish stinks, from the Head Down.
Not ready to fire Arians yet, but it is obvious some changes need to be made.
This constant, ineffective Blitzing needs to stop, IMHO.
It exposes our already compromised secondary, and tires our guys out.
On the last drive of Washington, you could see our guys panting, and breathing with their mouth’s open.
They were exhausted!
November 15th, 2021 at 10:38 am
The Bucs D was tired because they couldn’t get their sorry arses off the field on 3rd down.
I think we’ve seen enough of Darden. Dude is a fumble waiting to happen. Put in Perriman. Anyone else.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:40 am
@CChead saw it too. Brady got blasted early and hurried his throws after that. He had time but rushed to the checkdown or the WTF throws in the dirt.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:52 am
@Defense-
My worry is this year we are a year older/slower (as you also discussed) & clearly not as hungry. Assuming no Vea in the playoffs, I am grim on a winning path.
I hope they prove me wrong–perhaps you are right & that galvanizes them a bit, but this team is lost at the moment.
Another weekend like this & I may need to find something else to do on Sundays.
@CChead-
100%…Brady was feeling ghosts after that blasting. I don’t blame him, as I’d be dead after that hit. Unfortunate part is unless the O scores 35, Bucs lose….or 30 in this game.
November 15th, 2021 at 10:53 am
The traditional approach is to sit players during games for boneheaded plays or penalties, and make them run laps for boneheaded plays during practice (one lap first mistake, three laps second mistake, five laps third mistake and so on). If sitting a player or two costs you a game, so be it, it just adds more pressure on all the players to focus their attention on the little things, like waiting for the freaking ball to be snapped.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:01 am
While it may be true that you can’t fix stupid…you can stun it with a 2X4…but not if they’re wearing a helmet. The fact is that these guys aren’t stupid, they’re doing stupid things. The problem is lack of focus and not lack of intelligence. This is a problem that can only be solved by the team themselves. The leaders need to lead and demand the guys who are acting like knuckleheads shape up for the good of the team.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:06 am
PassingThru … I recognize that was caveated with ‘traditional’, but seems doubtful that approach would work with pro football players making $500K – $1 mil per game. Sitting them for a game may spur a ‘Hey I could get used to this’ response on their part.
Tend to think that professional players play for each other much more-so than for coaches or fans. ‘Don’t let your teammates down’ IOW. Still, they have to play within the game-plan and within the adjustments that are being made, so if those aren’t up-to-snuff it’s not gonna work. Plus I think that if guys are playing hurt, it doesn’t matter how much ‘want-to’ they have, the body just doesn’t have it to give. Tend to think that’s an issue with several of our guys, especially on defense.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:30 am
You said it Arians..its a reflection of the coaching and coaches.. Now get out of that golf cart and do some coaching…Sir.
November 15th, 2021 at 11:43 am
Attitude reflects Leadership! If they’re dumb so are you and your coaching staff! You all play a dirty game of favoritism and eeny meeny miney mo who you choose to keep or play. Bruce and Jason are getting exactly what they deserve, blatant embarrassment!!!! You made these players feel like they were above the law missing camp. Enjoy that humble pie
November 15th, 2021 at 12:02 pm
Alan- GREAT points regarding the OFFENSE. Why they went away from running the ball is absolutely baffling. Brady was struggling and our defense is depleted.
It’s a team game and all but, I put this on the offense.
The penalties are a no-brainer! How many 3rd and shorts did we gift them by jumping offsides?! Just dumb!
November 15th, 2021 at 12:46 pm
How many weeks is Arians gonna say “penalties have to get corrected”… before they get corrected?
This is 100% on Arians and his staff.
November 15th, 2021 at 12:54 pm
yes Joe bench players, OJ can sit the bench and be cut after the game, at least we get some use out of this player, he cannot be trusted anyway not to cause an interception just like Darden did. By cutting him, it loud and clear sets an example. This bullsht has to stop–there is no reason for most of this, so many ways to approach it–Jamel Dean should be put in front of the entire team to explain what caused him to bail on a play thereby allowing the go ahead touchdown. The entire team deserves the answer and every bullsht play like that gets brought up on their rest day off. So many opportunities for explanations from each individual player. Communicate their problems and out the stupid play calling from the coaches on both sides of the ball. A session just for the playcallers to be graded–Todd Bowles needs to explain himself because this team isn’t on board with his bullsht agenda and same goes for Leftwich.
November 16th, 2021 at 1:54 am
What BA says isn’t wrong, but he’d better be careful how he says it. Calling a team dumb echoes Bill Callahan and the Raiders years ago, and how he completely lost the locker room and his coaching job.