Head coach Bruce Arians wants to boost swag industry if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.
“We call them hat and T-shirt games,” Arians said about the Bucs’ Week 16 game in Monday’s press conference. “You get a hat and T-shirt if you make the playoffs. It’s a great feeling for those guys.”
The Bucs (9-5) can end the playoff drought with a win at Detroit (5-9) on Saturday according to Fox Sports. A win for the Bucs also ends a 14-year drought of winning 10 or more games.
“That was the goal this year — to get in the dance,” Arians said in the press conference. “Anything can happen once you’re in there.”
Tampa hasn’t seen such success since the John Gruden coaching era when the Bucs lost a wild card game in the 2007 season and won 11 games for the 2006 campaign. Things never improved after that when the Bucs fired Gruden following a 9-7 season for 2008 per ESPN.
Arians, the fifth Bucs coach in 11 years, became the head man in 2019 and mustered a 7-9 record that season. He saw success in Arizona previously, making the playoffs in the 2015 season.
The Bucs will need to beat an inconsistent Lions team that can give opponents trouble. The Lions challenged the Green Bay Packers (11-3) in a 31-24 loss on Sunday.
New Year’s Resolution
If the Bucs can make and keep a New Year’s resolution of starting games fast, they could play well into January. Slow starts, a season-long problem for the Bucs, could end the team’s season quicker than people give up on their New Year’s resolutions — especially when the Bucs face title contenders.
“We lost to the Chiefs and the Rams by three,” Arians said in Sunday’s postgame press conference according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio. “Both of those games spotting them [points] and playing this way. It’s not going to happen. You’re not going to beat those good teams playing this way. We’ve got to play better in the first half than we played today.”
Tampa’s deficient first quarter play led to a 17-0 halftime hole in Atlanta on Sunday. It took quarterback Tom Brady equaling his biggest comeback of the season to get the Bucs in the win column.
Arians revealed in Monday’s press conference where he believes the issue lies, per Sports Illustrated’s All Bucs.
“A lot of thought goes into picking those plays – (Brady’s) favorite plays, what he likes [and] what we like,” Arians said according to SI’s All Bucs. “You don’t think you’re going to throw a screen pass, complete it and lose – I don’t know – 15 yards because everybody was running backward. That doesn’t have anything to do with the script – you have to go out and execute. It’s not scripting, it’s execution and we’re not executing at a high enough level.”
Big D in Mo-Town
Tampa’s defense will get a chance to bounce back on Saturday after getting carved up by the Falcons for 369 yards. Arians addressed it Monday per WDAE via Twitter.
#GoBucs HC Bruce Arians
“Our defense needs to re-evaluate themselves a little bit to see what we’re capable of doing”
Getting to the quarterback hindered the Bucs’ defense, Arians added per WDAE on Twitter.
#GoBucs HC Bruce Arians
“You can’t let the quarterback have four seconds to throw and play man to man on defense”
Once the Bucs defense fixed that, the Falcons never scored again, noted Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times on Twitter.
#Goucs coach Bruce Arians said he wasn’t happy when the Falcons answered their first TD with a score. But then the defense starting getting home, sacking Matt Ryan.
The Lions passing attack can’t be overlooked as it ranks seventh in the league. Tampa will need to get to quarterback Matthew Stafford early and often to avoid needing another big Brady comeback.
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Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians Looking For New Swag For Christmas