Bruce Arians Did Todd Bowles A Favor
April 6th, 2022
Talkin’ Bruce Arians.
If you pay attention to various sports sites other than Joe’s, you still see the same rumors and same speculation.
It’s all over the place, the old rumor that Tom Brady forced former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians into retirement. Well, a guy that played for Arians had a pretty large platform recently and he used it to say that those rumors are total nonsense to anyone who knows Arians.
Shaun O’Hara was a three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman who won a ring with the Giants. Before he came to the Giants, O’Hara played for the Browns. Who was his offensive coordinator? Bruce Arians.
Additionally, there was a secondary coach with the Browns at the same time by the name of Todd Bowles.
So O’Hara knows Arians really well and knows Bowles fairly well. And the notion Arians would possibly walk away from a team that could make another Super Bowl run to set up Bowles is not nonsense, O’Hara said. In fact, O’Hara said it sounds exactly like Arians.
Also, despite Arians saying he began to seriously consider moving aside when Brady unretired, O’Hara is convinced the retirement spark was ignited in Arians’ mind earlier. O’Hara believes when Bowles did not leave the Bucs immediately after the season for a head coaching job is when Arians began seriously thinking of hanging it up.
“There isn’t a single player that doesn’t love BA,” O’Hara said on “Good Morning Football,” broadcast weekdays on NFL Network. “There isn’t a single coach that doesn’t love BA. I hear the [rumors] of friction with Tom Brady and all that stuff. I don’t believe any of that from the standpoint that either one of them would force the other out.
“[Arians] thought that Todd Bowles was head coaching material. He thought Todd would get hired during this cycle. If Bowles gets another job, ‘Alright, I will stick around another year and hold the fort down.’ But when [Bowles] didn’t get it, BA was like, ‘Alright, I am going to make the change.'”
O’Hara does believe Brady returning was what pushed Arians to pull the trigger on handing the keys to Bowles.
“He wouldn’t have left Todd Bowles with no quarterback,” O’Hara said. “It would have been like the Jets all over again. ‘I don’t have [a quarterback] that can help me win football games.’ He did Bowles a favor.”
Joe joked on a recent edition of the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” when Ira asked if the Bucs would have re-signed quarterback Blaine Gabbert if Todd Bowles was the coach and Brady stayed retired. Joe told Ira, “Knowing who Bowles had for quarterbacks with the Jets, yeah, Bowles would have been OK with Gabbert as his quarterback.”
Here were Bowles’ starting quarterbacks with the Jets: Sam Darnold, Stewart McClown and rotten Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Quarterback, at least for Bowles’ first season leading the Bucs, won’t be an issue.
April 6th, 2022 at 5:00 am
Arians will be involved
April 6th, 2022 at 5:10 am
Ryan Fitzpatrick is a hero!
A national treasure!
April 6th, 2022 at 5:26 am
if tom had bruce removed, if it is somehow true, tom will not be able to galavant around one buc like he’s the king…things don’t work that way, and bruce was beloved by his staff and at least the bulk of the players…even if you are the goat, people will flip on you for forcing a move like this…and these people and players are team insiders, so they will all know exactly how it went down…
so if tom got bruce bounced, you can bet this will be a wild rollercoaster of a season – one for the ages – one that’s built for an espn 30 for 30…
let’s hope it didn’t happen and the season goes smooth with superbowl aspirations…
because if it happened a lot of vets who are bruce’s guys will be looking at tom all sideways – and things will start getting obtuse in the locker room
April 6th, 2022 at 5:45 am
If only Fitzmagic didn’t have bouts of Jameis, he would have been a dangerous player. The guy can throw deep accurately and he was surprisingly mobile when needed, but he has a gunslinger’s mentality. Ride or Die I’m going to sling it attitude. He definitely was a sight to see every so often. He’s shown glimpses of what he could have been every stop he’s made along the way in his chaotic career.
But you can’t deny that guy loves the game and has a ton of fun playing. He just really doesn’t give a dang about consistency.
April 6th, 2022 at 5:50 am
There is, in fact, at least one player that hates BA
April 6th, 2022 at 6:47 am
Now let’s wait for the usual morons to double down on their bullspit. Trolls gotta troll.
April 6th, 2022 at 6:49 am
Speculation is the fertilizer that grows tatterdemalions.
April 6th, 2022 at 7:16 am
Disparaging Fitztragick? His fiercely loyal and highly unintelligent fan boys on this here website are going to be very upset with you Joe.
April 6th, 2022 at 7:35 am
Ryan ‘Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde’ Fitzpatrick.
I remember when he threw for 400 yards for us for three straight games.
I *ALSO* remember when he threw for five or six picks (I lost count) for the Jets.
You never knew what you were going to get.
April 6th, 2022 at 8:28 am
Exactly. All the other noise is just that, noise. Garbage. Just like the notion that he will be traded to Miami.
The sad part is how many fans read this nonsense and believe it when there’s not a shred of evidence. But, that is where a lot of journalism has gone. Get eyes on you, doesn’t matter if what you’re saying is valid.
Fake news
April 6th, 2022 at 8:38 am
I lay money on it that BA’s job 1a, 1b and 1c in his new Senior Football Consultant position (of which they’ve already stated will be tied heavily to the Draft) is to find and/or groom a QB for the Franchise’s future
….So we are in need of a QB for the future after Brady (whether that’s Trask, a Trade, in the Draft, Free Agency, etc.), we have the QB whisperer on hand in the FO and his new position “will be heavily involved in the Draft”….just makes too much sense!
April 6th, 2022 at 8:48 am
Yes he did, now it is ALL on Todd Bowels to juggle the 53 balls 24/7 with the help of a strong leadership in the locker room
April 6th, 2022 at 9:27 am
The local idiots know so much more than Shaun O’Hara. What would he know about BA or football? He wouldn’t possibly know more than the pestering cretins that know it all around here.
April 6th, 2022 at 10:09 am
This ‘unitelligent fanboy’ liked Fitz.
Bowles has no excuse to fail.
April 6th, 2022 at 10:16 am
Fitz was horrible 70% of the time. 30% of the time he was really good with a lot of luck. What saved him for so many years is he had a personality
April 6th, 2022 at 10:33 am
Arians has a great legacy here. Being an NFL head coach is an extremely demanding job. Bruce is turning 70. He gets to move to a much lower stress position and stay in football. He gets to promote his man Todd Bowles to head coach. It is a great story in my opinion.
April 6th, 2022 at 10:51 am
Arians said this during his conference. The media seemed to have missed it.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:00 am
All the people claiming that Arians was forced out don’t realize how far back the coaches go. Arians coached him at Temple in the 80’s. They coached together at the Browns in the 2000’s, together at the Cardinals in the 2010’s, and in Tampa in the 2020’s.
It isn’t insane to think that Arians was looking out for a friend who has stayed true and loyal to him throughout the past 4 decades.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:33 am
I would certainly prefer Ryan Fitzpatrick of Blaine Gabbert or Ryan Griffin
April 6th, 2022 at 11:59 am
I’m curious how Bowles will feel about Trask after training camp. If quarterback is truly his concern he’ll jump through hoops to make sure he has one in 2023. Maybe we’ll have our answer if Gabbert isn’t resigned. We need a succession plan at quarterback I don’t care who the coach is.
April 6th, 2022 at 7:20 pm
I believe this story and O’Hara over anything that comes out of Florio’s yapper.
April 7th, 2022 at 6:56 am
Enough already…..