Getty Bruce Arians believes the Bucs can play better.
There is not much that went right for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the team’s shutout loss to the New Orleans Saints, but head coach Bruce Arians was particularly perturbed with the kickers. Without mentioning names, Arians was less than thrilled with kicker Ryan Succop for missing a 45-yard field goal.
“Yeah, it’s [being shutout] very, very disappointing,” Arians said of the shutout during his postgame press conference. “It’s never happened to me, I don’t know. I can’t remember [the] last time I was shutout or us. But our kicking game, our kickers let us down also and between the offense and the kicking game, it cost us the game. The defense played good enough to win.”
Bradley Pinion averaged 42 yards per punt, but it is unclear if he is also on Arians’ bad list.
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Brady: ‘I Don’t Think We Were Much Good of Anything Tonight’
Not even Tom Brady could save the Bucs offense after losing three of their top playmakers during the game. Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette all exited the Sunday Night Football matchup early, leaving the team scrambling on offense.
With Breshad Perriman on the COVID list and Antonio Brown suspended, the young Bucs receivers failed to step up in their absences. Brady only completed 54% of his passes, well down from his season average of 67%. The Bucs quarterback threw for 214 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in the losing effort. After the team’s surprising loss, Brady was candid about the Bucs offensive woes.
“I don’t think we were much good of anything tonight,” Brady admitted during his December 19 press conference. “I wish it was just one thing. It was a lot of things, so we got to do better in every facet of offensive football to score points. We’re not going to win scoring no points.”
Arians on Receivers: ‘I Was Hoping They’d Step up a Little Bit More’
Arians was not pleased with the number of dropped passes in the game. The Buccaneers coach admitted he hoped the team’s existing receivers would take advantage of their opportunities given the star’s absences.
“Yeah, it [the injuries] was big, obviously the young guys, I was hoping they’d step up a little bit more of the receivers, and overall we just dropped too many balls, too,” Arians noted. “I mean, when we did have some guys open, and they [Saints defense] did a good job playing. They played that hard man-to-man, and we did not do a very good job of getting open.”
The Buccaneers will get a chance at redemption within the NFC South as Tampa Bay takes on Carolina on December 26. After the team’s loss to the Saints, the Bucs dropped to No. 3 in the NFC playoff standings. Tampa Bay is now in a three-way tie with Dallas and Arizona. All three teams find themselves one game back from the No. 1 seeded Packers.