Getty Bruce Arians could be reprimanded by the NFL for his altercation with safety Andrew Adams.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians slapping the helmet of safety Andrew Adams followed by an elbow jab drew loads of unfavorable reaction.
Now, Arians’ actions during the Sunday, January 16, Wild Card win could have him in trouble with the NFL. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported on Monday night that a source “with knowledge of the situation” said it’s “being handled.”
Bruce Arians is NOT happy 😳
“The source added that the policy is clear. No hands on officials, no hands on players,” Florio wrote.
Despite the clear overstep of league policy, Arians twice didn’t show remorse for his actions toward Adams. Arians admitted right after the Bucs’ win over the Philadelphia Eagles that he wanted to stop Adams from committing a potential penalty.
“Yeah, that was it,” Arians told the media following the game.
Arians took an even more open approach to addressing his altercation with the veteran safety on Monday. Asked if making contact with Adams was “regrettable,” Arians said, “No.”
“I’ve seen enough dumb,” Arians told reporters. “You can’t pull guys out of a pile. We just got a big play, great field position and he’s trying to pull a guy out of a pile and I was trying to knock him off that guy so he didn’t get a penalty.”
Adams has familiarity with the Eagles since he joined that team via free agency in March 2021, but the Eagles waived him before the regular season. He played two seasons for Arians in Tampa Bay before rejoining the Bucs this season following the Eagles’ waiver.
Adams plays regularly on special teams, roughly between 50% to 80% of the plays, per Pro Football Reference. He also filled in with the secondary heavily in December.
What’s Next for Arians?
The NFL does penalize coaches for actions, though Florio noted “it’s unclear” whether the league will issue or announce penalties against Arians.
Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach Greg Lewis got fined during the regular season after he shoved Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Harrison. The league didn’t release how much Lewis got fined, according to Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson.
Numbers came out during the 2020 season, however, when it involved coaches not wearing masks in violation of COVID-19 protocols. The NFL announced $100,000 fines for head coaches Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks, Vic Fangio of the Denver Broncos and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers for mask violations in September 2020.
Kyle Shanahan addressed the $100,000 fine for not wearing a mask while on sideline. #49ers
NFL Analysts: Arians’ Old School Approach Goes Too Far
While Arians’ 46 years of coaching lends an old-school approach, NFL media personalities like Florio were critical of his altercation with Adams.
“He’s the product of an era in which coaches kicked and punched and pulled players around by their facemasks as a remedy for ‘dumb’ or lazy or whatever,” Florio wrote. “That doesn’t make it OK. To the extent the NFL is concerned about the messages sent to players at lower levels of the sport when it comes to taunting, the league also should be concerned about messages sent to coaches at lower levels of the sport when it comes to laying hands on players.”
Hall of Fame tight end and now NFL analyst Shannon Sharpe concurred. Sharpe played youth football in the late 1970s before his storied NFL career with the Denver Broncos in the 1990s.
“I was very surprised, this isn’t 1970s football,” Sharpe said on FOX’s “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” on Monday. “I grew up when coaches did this, but that’s a grown man you’re dealing with. I understand he didn’t want to get a penalty, but you can’t hit me upside my head.”
.@ShannonSharpe on Bruce Arians slapping Bucs DB on helmet:
“I was very surprised, this isn’t 1970’s football. I grew up when coaches did this, but that’s a grown man you’re dealing with. I understand he didn’t want to get a penalty, but you can’t hit me upside my head.”
F the NFLL for mask violations. My body, my choice.