Bruce Arians Likes His Nasty Bucs
August 7th, 2021
Fresh fight from the trenches.
Once upon a time, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht signed guys like guard J.R. Sweezy and drafted Alex Cappa in an effort to get the Bucs nastier in the trenches.
Tampa Bay was not known as a beat-the-crap-out-of-you team.
Thankfully, that’s all changed. The Bucs now punch teams in the face. The run defense is among the best in NFL history and it’s complemented by a ferocious pass rush.
Then there’s the offensive line. The Bucs have been a top-4 passing offense for four consecutive seasons. Four! And that’s with three difference quarterbacks getting a ton of snaps. That doesn’t happen without out a commitment and talent along the O-line.
Times have changed. Joe appreciates it daily.
Today, Bucco Bruce Arians was glowing about the physicality of Saturday’s practice, praising his incredibly physical fronts and dropping one of his favorite training camp lines — that he’d rather say, “Whoa!” then “sick’em.”
It was a day for goal-line work, and that always makes for helmets cracking and a fiery practice (more on that later today).
Arians said after tomorrow’s day off, he’s looking forward to “a really spirited Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday” before taking it much easier leading up to the preseason opener against Cincinnati next Saturday.
As for young players fighting for a job, Arians said he loved their physicality and work today but they left way too many plays on the field. “Hopefully they’ll do it in games or they won’t be here,” he said.
August 7th, 2021 at 12:46 pm
Nice to finally see a Bucs team that can takeover the Line of Scrimmage on both sides of the ball (other than Donovan Smith).
August 7th, 2021 at 12:53 pm
It has been said here many times before by several posters that I respect and bears repeating.
“The battle is won in the trenches”
Regardless of the talent in the backfield or the secondary, if you lose in the trenches… You lose!
So glad that Licht understands this!
August 7th, 2021 at 1:07 pm
@Bozo…I’ve given Donovan Smith enough crap with his play, to know that he played tremendous football last year.
August 7th, 2021 at 1:36 pm
Jensen and BA politicking the refs last year to hold onto that flag was a huge difference in how the O- line played. Brady picked you apart, Jensen picked fights, and after all that, you have to get around Donnie and Wirfs. We got a full season of Suh, JPP, and Shaq last year and it was nasty. Im betting Vea and Tryon dial it up another notch. This isnt one of those greatest shows on turf teams- this team is going to impose its will on its opponents.
August 7th, 2021 at 2:16 pm
The “Donovan Smith sucks” crap should stop. The man played very well last year. Look at the film. This line of crap is an insult to the coaches and GM, who won a SB with Donovan Smith. People said DS is lazy. You know who’s lazy? The clowns who keep throwing crap at DS. Go cheer for the Saints.
August 7th, 2021 at 2:16 pm
Yeah, the more times the D gives the ball back to the O without the enemy getting anything good the better.
This is what our D can do and we know what our O can do so we should have a happy season.
August 7th, 2021 at 2:18 pm
Duane…breath of fresh air…a coach actually sticking up for his players around here…isn’t it?
I don’t think the guys thought Koetter had their back. So they felt it necessary to dispense justice in their own way, while Koetter had his head buried in the play sheet.
Don’t think it meant we got undeserved calls our way. But I don’t think officials thought they could make garbage calls about us without Arians calling them up short and standing up for his players.
August 7th, 2021 at 2:21 pm
Agree Mod. Now maybe Donovan wasn’t inspired by the leadership of Jameis and Koetter. I don’t think they did. Nor did they necessarily hold him accountable. But Arians and Brady hold him accountable and inspire him to play his best. And now that Donovan is playing his best and being accountable, time for the Donavan bashing to stop.. IMHO.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:35 pm
Surprised we haven’t seen any “Mc Ice Cream” posts yet….guess this will jump-start them.
August 7th, 2021 at 4:35 pm
The Titians are the ultimate beat the crap out of you team and the Bucs will be hosting them in joint practices in about a week and a half. Should be a good measuring stick.
August 7th, 2021 at 6:41 pm
Y, Stanglass, I also am very much looking forward to it. I hope Joe doesn’t forget to tell us what got a little out of control at today’s practice, if he saw it. What makes Arians wanna say “Woah..”.
August 7th, 2021 at 9:19 pm
Watching the O & D line just dominate in the Super Bowl was so heartwarming
August 8th, 2021 at 11:57 am
Lathe game is won in the trenches. You can make a bad running back look above average is great blocking. You can make any below average DB look good with a fierce pass rush. The battle is won in the trenches yall.
August 8th, 2021 at 12:20 pm
I was not a Smith fan his first couple of years but he without question had a very good season last year, he got eaten up in game one but he pretty much balled out the rest of the season.