Arians Seems Irked By “Identity”
December 14th, 2020
Bothered by empty chatter?
Joe wrote about this yesterday but now with a fresh take from Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians, Joe’s going there again.
Joe has a hangup when people talk about “leaders.” Or as that Dan Sileo would say, “LEE-dehrs.” It’s just such empty, vapid rhetoric — great for lazy sports radio hosts who can’t think of another subject to discuss.
And right under that subject for Joe is “identity.” What the hell is that?
The Cowboys of the 1990s had an identity: renegades, strip-club-trollers, party animals. And oh yeah, winners. Well, the Bucs have a richly cultivated identity in the post-Chucky era. No need for Joe to detail what that is. 🙁
Last week Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians was asked about the team’s identity. This must have really stuck in his craw — not craw, craw! — as Arians sort of went off on this yesterday in post postgame remarks.
Then later talking to Albert Breer of SI.com, Arians went off again, so Breer documents in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.
“Yeah, I mean people keep asking for identity,” coach Bruce Arians said over his cellphone postgame. “We do whatever the hell it takes to win. We can run it. We can throw it. We can throw it spread. Everybody wants us to throw to certain guys, but we just try to win. Tom did a great, great job of distributing the football. Big thing was no turnovers. You’re hard to beat when you don’t turn the ball over.”
Joe loves the audaciousness of Arians’ words but come on, the Bucs are not yet good enough to impose their will on any team. Just research the Bucs’ games in the month of November.
Now do the Bucs have the talent to do this? Perhaps. Outside of kicking, is there one element of the Bucs you could call “dominant?”‘
(And how freaking shocking and weird is it for Joe to write that last sentence given the Bucs’ history in the post-Chucky era?)
If given the opportunity to run, the Bucs can run. If given the opportunity for the Bucs to throw, they can throw.
When the playoffs come, most teams playing in January are not that charitable. So the Bucs better be able to outwit their foes and find good matchups, especially if they have to play in Green Bay in the dead of night in northeastern Wisconsin.
December 14th, 2020 at 12:50 pm
I can identify with that
December 14th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
That quote by Arians shows just how clueless he is.
“We can do whatever we want.”
Clearly, you that’s not even remotely true, coach. You got lucky af. Just another lie from Bullchit Bruce.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:00 pm
I’m not so concerned about the identity thin Joe. But I am concerned about the slow starts. The..catchup mentality. This is why I say we need to catch fire and roll into the playoffs with momentum. Run and table and we do that. Brady has a lot of overthrows. He had 6 of them yesterday where the receiver was wide open.
We will see. No fakin in this NFl. Bucs need to ball out to have a chance not to be..one and done in the playoffs. Our D line is resilient. They play in spurts but do have the ability to..turn it on when they need to.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:09 pm
Wasn’t the 38-17 victory I predicted and it would’ve been closer if they had a kicker. No one cared when we had a Sh!tty kicker, so why should we care when the opposing team has one.
We’re 8-5 quite being a bunch of entitled c@nts, it’s not always pretty and there’s a lot of work to do but we are about to break our playoff drought. Enjoy the damn ride.
DEVIN WHITE LEARN HOW TO COVER PLEASE, you were the weak link yesterday. Does he have a pass defensed this season?
December 14th, 2020 at 1:15 pm
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DEVIN WHITE LEARN HOW TO COVER
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Lol ..Devin can cover… if he makes the right read and stops playing what he “thinks “ he sees
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He bit and bit and bit .. not gonna be kind in the LB film room
December 14th, 2020 at 1:24 pm
At least we are shaking the identity of “losers”……
As far as the slow starts…….it’s poor execution early in games from Brady…..
those two passes to wide open receivers early in yesterday’s game is an example.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:25 pm
^ At this point I’m more concerned White’s sudden inability to tackle anyone than his coverage skills. White looked slow and lumbering out there. Heck he looked more like Derrick Brooks in his last season running around on a broken ankle than a 23 year old 1st round pick who is supposed to be a stud.
And no, I will not stop b!tching as long as this team continues to underperform and struggle against mediocre opponents.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:25 pm
We can do anything. Fairly true but we can’t do anything we want any time we want to. The problem is when something ain’t working we don’t try something else.
The identity he described is stubborn overconfidence
December 14th, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Unbelie
He said they do whatever it takes to win not whatever they want. I think so anyway. I’m tired of all the talk too. They should have done whatever it took to win a few more games but were out coached. They were outcoached yesterday too but luckily Bailey was the Bucs mvp. I’ll take lucky any week tho. Quit whining coach and start preparing
December 14th, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Fully agree.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
We faced a hot team, I think the Vikings are better then we give them credit for, also I think we should focus more on moving the chains in the beginning of games, because we’ve been going 3 and out alot the last 4 games to start the games.
December 14th, 2020 at 1:58 pm
I disagree with Joe and BA. Great teams know how “they win” and they hone it.
If you try and be good at everything, then you’re not great at anything. That’s exactly what this offense is – Okay at everything and easily beatable by teams that have an identity.
December 14th, 2020 at 2:02 pm
Cmon! This team had an identity as soon as Brady signed on. It’s an identity we’ve been searching for a long time. WINNERS.
Isn’t that good enough…WINNERS! We have the freaking GOAT at QB and three potential HOF targets. ROJO is now running well and I believe this OL is just finding it’s stride and Wirfs is now the best OL…what identity do we want?
On defense we hit hard, gang tackle, stop the run and rush the passer.
So are we talking offense ID…or defensive ID. One is loaded with HOF talented guys….the other has some very talented players but lots of youth mixed in as well including a second year guy in the middle of it all and a rookie safety backing him up. What id…young? talented?
I’m with BA. Identities are like pet’s names. You really shouldn’t force them. Frequently the pet names him/herself.
Right now we’re balanced. Oh the horrors!
BTW…HOF on the offense for sure what say you JBFers about JPP and Suh?
Are our two defensive studs worthy of potential HOF consideration? If we win the SB will that change their chances?
December 14th, 2020 at 2:06 pm
He’s just butt hurt because he’s been getting justifiable criticism for his stubborn insistence that his “no risk no biscuit” offensive philosophy is what works. He is making it harder to win and more likely to get TB12 injured. Fool. Older coaches like Andy Reid and Bill Belichick have smart enough and open minded enough to change what they do to win. And they adapt to their players. BA and BL strike me as square peg/round hole “we do what we do” kind of guys.
December 14th, 2020 at 2:13 pm
I think the plays are there early in the games, we just haven’t capitalized on them. Brady drops dimes to Scotty Miller 50 yds down the field so its not about can Brady hit longer passes……to me its a lack of chemistry within the offense. Brady has 20 yrs of instincts built into a different style of offense, as good as he is and can be, it still takes time to settle in. Every stat i’ve seen on QBs under Arians seems to show a drastic improvement in yr two. i would expect the same for Brady…..but i honestly think he’ll start connecting on those early plays and that will get the team rolling.
December 14th, 2020 at 2:28 pm
The problem is that great teams need an “identity” to win. The Bucs play sloppy football and they can scrap together wins against subpar opponents with the talent on their roster alone but a lack of identity is why haven’t been able to compete with the Saints or Chiefs.
The Cheifs identity is “we’ll score 30 on you.”
The Saints identity is “we’re gonna play dominant defense and dink and dunk you in the pass game”
The Browns and Titans identity is “we’re gonna run the ball down your throat and execute an efficient pass game”
The Bucs have no identity as of right now.
December 14th, 2020 at 3:11 pm
I like Clodhopper’s take – “stubborn overconfidence”
I get it, we have a ridiculous roster… but its almost like we are a 900hp car with suspect tires. All that power, and we just spin our wheels.
That all said, it feels so gooooood to be 8-5
December 14th, 2020 at 3:16 pm
Coach No Risk It No Biscuit said:
What a difference a year makes.
The Bucs have turned the ball over 16 times thus far. The same period in 2019 the Bucs had 32 turnovers.
That is 1 less turnover a game, a huge difference.
IMO, that is the #1 reason this team has an 8-5 record.
Additionally, the team is accruing fewer penalties & yards vs. last season.
December 14th, 2020 at 3:37 pm
Another stupid comment on leadership.
December 14th, 2020 at 3:39 pm
Beady might feel right at home in Green Bay. it’s a playoff game at N.O. that scares me. 0-3 vs a div rival would suck.
December 14th, 2020 at 3:50 pm
After years of listening to the Ira podcasts, I now know what, “not craw, craw!” means. 🙂 As Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau would say, “mystery sol-ved.”
December 14th, 2020 at 4:50 pm
Exactly which teams are dominating? KC squeaked by for the third week in a row. They win but they don’t dominate. New Orleans lost to the Eagles and a rookie QB making his first start. Pittsburgh has lost two in a row. Seattle has a weak defense and is up and down. The Rams don’t blow out anybody. This the NFL in the age of the salary cap.
December 14th, 2020 at 5:16 pm
I would just like to humbly submit that not having an offensive identity does, in fact, make it more difficult for the opposition to game plan against you.
With that being said, my wish is that we would consistently RUN the freaking ball (25+ carries) for all 4 quarters and work off of play-action with middle-deep-short for our reads.
December 14th, 2020 at 6:03 pm
This staff is really starting to come off as super arrogant and unwilling to change.
My expectations are tempered…
The slow starts are on the staff and Brady. But why not get him hot and warmed up or in a rhythm before you ask him to rip it 35 -40 yards downfield???
December 14th, 2020 at 6:20 pm
Methuselah Brady has a block about throwing to ME13 and CG14 even when they are wide open. Gronkowski and Brown, nope. He needs to get that fixed in his old brain.
December 14th, 2020 at 6:22 pm
I am noticing Devin White at times seems confused in his coverage. Probably just being a rookie huh?
December 14th, 2020 at 6:56 pm
The slow starts have been a huge disappointment. I’d much rather see them move the chains. They have to stop running Jones into the backs of his linemen on first down. Throw the short stuff to Godwin and Brown. Evans is better suited getting the ball near the sidelines. Just don’t be predictable.
December 14th, 2020 at 6:59 pm
Bucs identity is good players with bad coaching and stupid play calling.
December 14th, 2020 at 7:28 pm
What kind of men need ‘leaders’ to ‘lead’ them? Weak willed empty headed morons, that’s who.
December 14th, 2020 at 8:53 pm
The Bucs beat Minnesota.
Who gives a crap about time of possession, identity, missed tackles, first down percentage, rotation of players, leadership, sacks, missed kicks or anything other than the final score?
Losers.
December 14th, 2020 at 9:39 pm
Well Joe, you and Bruce can claim that all you want, but that’s not the reality. The reality is – they win when they run the ball and utilize play action. That’s their identity.
When Brady just drops back and they don’t run the ball much, they struggle.
December 14th, 2020 at 9:42 pm
Throwing deep as much as they do is not their identity.
That’s been a disaster. They need to have a balanced offense that takes a few shots. They force it downfield way too much.
Hell, look at Miller’s touchdown on third and four, that was a bad decision. There’s a TE wide open in the middle of the field for the first down. You complete that and keep the drive going, that was not the time to take a shot, it just happened to work out this time
December 14th, 2020 at 10:16 pm
8-5= winning record, WINNERS, yes the “UGLY BETTY” makeover is still in process. But 8-5 is miles from where this team has been on Dec 14 with all the Draft Talk. lol lol lol WINNING RECORD GO BUCS!!!!!!
December 15th, 2020 at 12:35 am
orlbucfan: “Methuselah Brady has a block about throwing to ME13 and CG14 even when they are wide open.”
You mean ME13 who leads the team in targets, yards, and receptions? To be fair, Evans is tied in receptions with… Godwin, who’s tied with Evans there and is less than 100 yards behind Evans in total yards in spite of 4 fewer games.
A block about throwing to those guys, you mean?
Yeah, solid point.
December 15th, 2020 at 8:10 am
We do not have an “identity” – that is a “go to” that no one can stop. We should. We have the weapons on offense. The Bucs are more loaded on offense than any team in the NFL.
Our online is good, but not good enough to run on good defenses. I expected to be able to run on the Vikings; don’t understand why we got so many ‘2 yards on first down’. Look at the huge holes the Vikings had to run Cook. So how do we run on the Rams in 4 weeks?
Brady threw 4 absolutely awful passes – to VERY wide open receivers – that contributed to 3 and outs. Vikings pass rush is ok, not great. So how do we give Brady a pocket when we play the Rams in 4 weeks?
Early in the season, I was asking HOW is it possible for a team to cover ME, Godwin, Brown and Rojo?!?! BUT they are. Is it play design, play calling, Brady misfires?
December 15th, 2020 at 8:33 am
Bruce is defensive because everybody knows this team is underachieving due to his stale offense–run in the A gap every first down and and throw a bomb every third down–30th in the NFL in first down success and in use of play action, in which Brady excels. And Byron doesn’t know why. Identity: Dumb and dumber.