Bruce Arians Chews Out Defense at Buccaneers’ Practice

Bruce Arians

Michael Reaves/Getty Images Head coach Bruce Arians of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Head coach Bruce Arians isn’t concerned about Tom Brady getting acclimated with his team. Arians has coached several top quarterbacks in the past, including Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, and he believes Brady can learn a new system as fast as anyone.

While the coach is confident in the offense, his stance on the defense doesn’t appear to be as optimistic, as evidence by a tirade at Buccaneers’ practice.

Some may worry about Tampa Bay’s defense, though the unit wasn’t a major problem in 2019. No team was better against the run than the Bucs last season, per Football Outsiders’ DVOA. The passing defense? It was solid, ranking 12th in the league.


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Buccaneers’ Offense Still Adjusting

Brady is still adjusting to the new offense in Tampa Bay, though his teammates are going to have to adjust to especially with the audibling of plays. Arians explains that the Bucs didn’t do much of that under Jameis Winston over the past few seasons.

“Tom’s used to audibling so much and we haven’t asked our guys to audible that much in the last few years,” Bruce Arians recently said. “Going back to [coaching] Peyton, he’d have three plays in the huddle. And he might run a fourth one, because he saw something he liked. Tom can do those types of things. We’ll give him those types of things to do but right now it’s just, Let’s get it all down pat, which he probably has 90 percent of it in the book right now in his mind.”

Arians is certainly going to have a different experience with Brady than he did with Winston, one being a future Hall-of-Famer and the other coming to Tampa Bay fresh out of the draft. The coach talked up Winston this offseason before the former No. 1 overall pick signed with the Saints.


Buccaneers All-In This Season (Minus One Player)

Concerns over the safety of playing amid the COVID-19 pandemic still exist and NFL players have the right to opt-out of the 2020 season. Sixty-nine players have chosen to opt-out, as Pro Football Action captures in its COVID-19 Opt-Out Tracker.

Tackle Brad Seaton is the only member of the Buccaneers on that list. Seaton, who spent 2017 and 2019 on the franchise’s practice squad, was no lock to make the roster, though he could have provided the team with depth on the offensive line.

The NFC South hasn’t had too many players opt-out. The Panthers and Saints each have two players (none of which are starters) opting out and the Falcons currently have no players choosing to sit out the season.

Tight end Cameron Brate, who was one of the participants in Brady’s drills earlier this offseason, announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. Brate has recovered and the 29-year-old made a video promoting the donation of plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19.

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