Peter King Comes Clean (Sort Of) On Alleged Friction Between Bruce Arians And Tom Brady
April 4th, 2022
Evidence, please.
Joe was on SiriusXM NFL Radio yesterday and told one of the co-hosts, Zig Fracassi, that maybe we will learn what the hell exactly is going on behind the scenes with this Tom Brady retirement/unretirement/Bruce Arians friction/retirement/Todd Bowles hiring on a future BSPN 30 for 30 documentary.
Until then, this story is basically a Bucs fans’ version of the Grassy Knoll Theory.
It is difficult to make sense out of what happened because what happened makes no sense.
One of the national football scribes who first reported there was angst between Arians and Brady, Daylight Savings Time-scared, crossword-puzzle-puzzled, Elon-Musk-peeved, Barstool-Sports-triggered, almond-milk-sipping, hot-dog-eating-contest-protesting, mock-draft-scowling, L.L.-Bean-wearing, tennis fans’ advocate, Second Amendment abolitionist, Mike-Florio-arguing, parrot-insensitive, chewing-with-his-mouth-open, soup-gulping, California-train-romancing, anti-football proliferation, outhouse-admiring, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal-picture-taking, video-game-playing, Taylor-Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, craft-beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training, Budweiser-tolerant, baseball-scorecard-keeping, pasta-feasting, vomit-dodging scrooge, Kay-Adams-following, Coors-Light-souring, pineapple-upside-down-cake-eating social activist and NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports fame, also happens to be one of the two reporters Arians gave the scoop of the year to: that Arians was resigning less than a month before the draft and Todd Bowles would succeed him.
King, in his must-scroll “Football Morning in America” column today, explained where he learned of this alleged friction.
King confessed that some folks (yes, plural) from Brady’s camp sang to him weeks ago that Brady was getting sick of Arians. Now, did this lead to Brady orchestrating a palace coup at One Buc Palace? Well, King types that he isn’t buying it. Yet.
What really happened at the end of the Arians era? Was he pushed overboard by Tom Brady? We don’t know. All parties deny it, but because associates of Brady said Brady was beginning to chafe at Arians after two seasons with him, a level-jump has been made. The jump: Brady said he’d come back if Arians was gone, and then Arians was gone, and so Brady must have done it. I don’t doubt the friction, and I don’t know if Brady acted on the friction. Anyone got the facts to support it? If so, let’s hear them.
King wisely and correctly pointed out how quarterbacks always have problems with their coaches, specifically great ones.
Terry Bradshaw despised Chuck Noll so badly that even decades after both retired, Bradshaw refused to attend Noll’s funeral as a bury-the-hatchet gesture. Roger Staubach locked horns with Tom Landry often. Mike Holmgren regularly got into arguments with Brett Favre. Bart Starr once gave Vince Lombardi an ultimatum. And yes, the saintly Joe Montana had no use for Bill Walsh near the end of his 49ers days.
King pointed out none of those quarterbacks forced their coaches into retirement (though Bradshaw did try to get traded to the Raiders). So why would Brady start that trend?
Joe will ask once again; about what exactly was Brady so peeved at Arians about? The offense was the best in the NFL. Arians revived Brady’s career — at 43! If anything, whatever Arians may or may not have been doing, it sure looks as though Arians knew what the hell he was doing.
April 4th, 2022 at 5:13 am
I think the coach was just sloppy and in the end the team showed it. That extra focus and drive is what crosses the finish line.
April 4th, 2022 at 5:19 am
👏🏾 👏🏾 Sloppy is right
April 4th, 2022 at 5:19 am
Belichick shafted Brady when he benched Maicolm Butler in the Super Bowl against Philadelphia. That probably cost Brady and the Patriots the Super Bowl. win. So Brady knew he didn’t have enough control in NE. He wouldn’t get that in Tampa with Arian not letting him control the offense the right way. And Arians probably cost him and the Bucs a chance at another Super Bowl with his no risk it no biscuit it offense and poor judgement against the Rams on the last play in the playoffs. Remember the quote “You play to win the game.”
April 4th, 2022 at 5:28 am
Don Brady
April 4th, 2022 at 5:30 am
“Sloppy”? So, in three years ‘sloppy’ got us a SB and a division title with a 13-4 record.
I’ll take sloppy all day if those are our odds!
April 4th, 2022 at 5:32 am
I say BS just a different day and the same old media BS trying to get wheels on their story. Let’s play football and stop all the drama and don’t get me down bbbbrrrrruuuuccccceeee or joe.
April 4th, 2022 at 5:34 am
Hmmm, “grassy knoll theory”. Perhaps the analogy is a bit too strong. The assassination of a president is a bit more important than the retirement of a coach, don’t you think? Perpetuating nonsense achieves no purpose. This is material for the National Enquirer. You’re above that Joe.
April 4th, 2022 at 6:37 am
Or maybe Arains is telling the truth, and retired to help Bowles out. Tom couldn’t scratch his itch retired and was coming back no matter who the coach. Everyone’s happy, but the media, including Karen, I mean Joe, has to make a back stabbing who done it story out of it. Can’t we report boring football related stories anymore?
April 4th, 2022 at 6:44 am
I agree with Hodad. This story is starting grow mold. It’s been beaten to death. Bottom line is it no longer matters. Please, OTAs, training camp, anything to make this go away.
April 4th, 2022 at 7:11 am
Who caressssssssssss, Joe pls stop keeping up with this nonsense, just post actual importance… if there’s nothing important then post about the bucs history or something & get those new fans caught up ,
GoBucs!
April 4th, 2022 at 7:13 am
Had Brady not come back, and BA retired THIS year, he’d look like a rat leaving a sinking ship. (KIND of like Sean Payton) Brady likely here for the one year, BA sees this as the best way to avoid that
April 4th, 2022 at 7:21 am
What’s funny is at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. We have the goat. He’s got all his stars back. I personally don’t like the drama but it sells just wish all the drama wasn’t coming from my team lol. Come on football season
April 4th, 2022 at 7:28 am
Maybe Brady bitched a bit out loud here & there……who of us have not bitched about a boss at one time or another……I bitched constantly until I became a boss….then I understood what a pain in the a$$ I was.
But….did Brady act on it……I don’t think so. If that were the case & he got BA bounced….BA would not be still around……not a chance.
April 4th, 2022 at 7:40 am
I am sure there were several sources of friction, but I have to think the way the season ended and the way Arians cavalierly discarded AB in the thick of our playoff hunt had an impact on Brady. Brady probably replays that Rams game in his head all the time and wonders what might have been had AB been on the team. Who knows how that game would have actually ended, but it’s got to irritate Brady. This may sound like an overly simple and petty explanation, but people are not always complex and they (we) can be pretty darn petty (i.e., Joe’s Terry Bradshaw example).
April 4th, 2022 at 7:45 am
You can’t handle the truth you just delete it
April 4th, 2022 at 8:16 am
Actually Joe, one could say Karen Rodgers got McCarthy fired.
April 4th, 2022 at 8:41 am
“Arians revived Brady’s career — at 43! If anything, whatever Arians may or may not have been doing”
Joe’s Delusional.
Revived his career? Arians? How?
“Whatever Arians may or may not have been doing”
LOL
Exactly. It’s not possible for Joe to actually detail what BA supposedly did to revive the GOAT Tom Brady.
This is because BA literally did nothing. He drove around on a golf cart all day.
BA DID NOT REVIVE TOM BRADY, TOM BRADY REVIVED BA
UNREAL HOW SOME OF YOU THINK IT IS THE OTHER WAY
THAT IS WHY YOU ARE SO CONFUSED BY THE BRADY-BA STORY.
YOU WILL NEVER GET IT.
BA= LAZIEST COACH IN BUCS HISTORY.
April 4th, 2022 at 8:48 am
To be honest with you, I am the once that thinks this is much more simple as everybody thinks……Brady and BA are fine, and most off this is made up, mainly by the Florios Cowerherd´s of this planet, that they need to fill there longs stupid ignorant shows with something, if it´s true fine if iot´s not who cares??…..
Happens the same on politics, evene on the Showbusiness.
Did someone said Oscars??
This is the new world people…..wake up!!!
April 4th, 2022 at 8:50 am
Here’s my theory—
It is not a problem with Arians as much as it is a problem Brady has to his fellow players reactions to Arians. Arians sets a “fly by the seat of your pants” mentality. This was deadly fo AB. Without extreme discipline, AB went off the rails. THAT COST BRADY A RING. BA can only be BA. Todd, hopefully will instill a harsher, more focused environment. The younger players will be more focused as a result. BA is great for most veteran players. He is too lax on the young ones. If they don’t have internal drive, BA will just “cut their ass.”. They need more discipline to develop. Having BA up the food chain and not on the field helps EVERYBODY, including BA.
April 4th, 2022 at 8:54 am
Do you think Brady gave an ultimatum to come back and play for Todd Bowles? That’s just stupid.
April 4th, 2022 at 8:56 am
It’s your site but I bet if you take a poll of your readers, at this point the dead horse has been thoroughly beaten. I get there is not much to report between now and the draft or OTA’s but I can’t imagine true Bucs fans really care at this point who did what, why he retired, etc. I would think most fans are ready to just move forward.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:02 am
Does anyone remember when BA called a timeout in the Bucs-Bills game?
Why won’t Bucs media bring this up? It is kind of relevant to the current saga.
Bucs up 27-24 with 1 minute remaining. Bills driving. BA calls a timeout BEFORE letting the Bills Offense get to the line of scrimmage.
COACHING 101. You wait for the offense to get set where they can legally snap the ball in order to MILK AS MUCH CLOCK AS POSSIBLE before calling a timeout to give your D rest.
Of course, BA being the laziest coach in Bucs history, just called the timeout right away.
BRADY couldn’t believe it on the sideline. There is video footage. I can’t post it in the comment section, but you can find it.
Why would Brady like BA?
What does he do? GAMEPLAN: NO
CALL PLAYS: NO
GOOD IN-GAME COACH LIKE BILLY B: NO
Why would Brady like him? Tom only has a few years left and BA was too lazy to put the work in.
BILLY B WORKED HARDER THAN BA. FACT.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:09 am
This speculation on the Brady-Arians friction is B.S. at best and pure fiction at worst. Arians, from everything I’ve read, wanted Bowles to ascend to the HC position. They go back a long ways into their college years together. Arians rewarded Bowles loyalty by making sure that Bowles succeeded him without having to go through a coaching search. Besides, we all know that Brady is going to run the offense. Everyone wins and nobody loses. Go Bucs. Go Canes.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:12 am
“Thoroughly?” Hardly. Actually just scratched the surface.
Joe thinks his new judgment is pretty sharp given his traffic compared to others. There will always be folks who just want to move on. This story has legs. And it very likely will directly impact the Bucs for years along with untold future decisions. This is a major story, maybe the biggest in Bucs history outside of winning two Super Bowls.
Joe doesn’t ignore major stories. And he’s not about to stop now. If you are bored with a subject, there are literally thousands of stories in the free archives to read.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:39 am
If you think careful, calculating Tom Brady impulsively retired, and then impulsively changed his mind–that’s just ridiculous.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:40 am
“but I can’t imagine true Bucs fans really care at this point who did what, why he retired, etc”
Enjoy the drama while it lasts. The GOAT dumped his head coach to bring us another RING.
You will miss the Brady Show in 1-2 years when we slide back into irrelevance.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:47 am
Go watch the Rams game!
Von Miller hit Brady in the chin. No flag was thrown. Tom complained and he was flagged.
Arians screamed at Tom as he left the field with a bloody chin.
This was the straw that broke the camels back.
Arians was jealous of Tom. Bottom line.
April 4th, 2022 at 10:01 am
I never get tired of this story, because I happen to think Brady really did get rid of Arians.
April 4th, 2022 at 10:02 am
Grassy Knoll Theory? Very timely Joe. Next time maybe you can work in a New Deal or a Seward’s folly reference.
Epic Fail.
April 4th, 2022 at 10:04 am
@rpk you are 💯% correct
April 4th, 2022 at 10:19 am
Just because our offense was really good doesn’t mean that a person who may be a perfectionist or strives to be the greatest version of himself thinks really good is good enough. If there is someone standing between you and your best, you could accept that or you can do something about it, whether that is retire or remove your obstacles. Just because a regular Joe thinks we were really good doesn’t mean that should be good enough for the greatest of all time.
April 4th, 2022 at 10:54 am
Antonio brown. Brady needed him. That’s one reason. However ba handled that situation.
April 4th, 2022 at 11:19 am
Joe this is not “a major story.”
I wish there was more to talk about in the offseason Joe, but seriously who cares? I’m a true Bucs fan and I don’t give a sh!t. I’m thinking about the future and not Bowles NYJ days or the last play of LAR or if Brady pushed out a 70 year old with a torn ACL that was gone next year. “90 percent bullspit” from Brady. Standing on my tippy toes about this story with “legs” that need to be chopped off.
April 4th, 2022 at 1:35 pm
The real question is how many non-black coaches were interviewed before hiring a black coach? The NFL forces teams to do the opposite. If not, then isn’t that discrimiation?
April 4th, 2022 at 2:28 pm
Hey Axel, I don’t think that’s the “real question”. But way to show you’re an upset white guy with racial frustrations reliant on ‘whataboutism’. Respectfully, get bent.
April 4th, 2022 at 2:29 pm
If Wirfs and Godwin weren’t injured, Bucs win a second SB in a row and we wouldn’t be talking about this.
April 4th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
Axel, no it was past the Rooney Rule as of March 1st, a loop hole the NFL is considering to get rid of.
April 5th, 2022 at 2:32 am
It’s good to know that even a sociopathic weirdo like king can have some good qualities.
April 5th, 2022 at 10:22 am
Wouldn’t have to be Brady orchestrating a coup. I could see the Glazers desperate to keep Brady and so offering to retire out Arians. Then that tempts Brady back, to build a team and offensive scheme exactly to his liking.
My guess is he and Leftwich really did have offensive philosophies that differed from Arians’ approach. Will be very interesting to see what the new offense is. Similar to Patriots short game stuff?