Getty Bruce Arians took a shot at the Patriots.
Bruce Arians had a strong message to send to Bill Belichick ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showdown with the New England Patriots. After Belichick suggested the Buccaneers are running the same offense as Tom Brady did in New England, Arians claimed the Patriots “copied a lot of ours.”
“I think they [Patriots] copied a lot of ours so it’s probably the same,” Arians said, per Buccaneers.com. “Ask them which film they watch every week. They always picked ours up and watched it, so it’s the same stuff.”
Belichick on Bucs System: ‘It’s the Offense He’s Run His Whole Career’
Arians’ comments came after Belichick was asked about the offense Brady is running with the Buccaneers. Belichick described the Bucs system as the, “offense he’s run his whole career.”
“It’s the offense he’s run his whole career,” Belichick told reporters. “Well, I mean as it evolved here, but the running game is the running game. The running game is different, but the passing game is the passing game. It’s pretty similar, you could call most every play from the flare control to the protection. You know, similar to the way we do it.”
Arians: ‘New England Didn’t Allow [Brady] to Coach’
Bruce Arians on the assertion that the Bucs pass offense is the almost 100 percent what Tom Brady ran with the Patriots. “I think they copied a lot of ours so it’s probably about the same.”
It is not the first jab Arians has taken at Brady’s former team since he arrived in Tampa. During a January interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, Arians discussed how Brady has more freedom with the Buccaneers noting, “New England didn’t allow him to coach.”
“Consummate leader,” Arians explained. “Has been all year. Got the air of confidence that permeates through our team every day. I allow him to be himself. Like, New England didn’t allow him to coach. I allow him to coach. I just sit back sometimes and watch.”
As the coaches debate who created Brady’s current offense, the quarterback admitted there will be a lot of familiarities when the Bucs take on the Patriots in Foxborough. Brady has already envisioned what the Week 4 matchup will look like when he takes the field in New England for the first time as an opponent.
“Oh yeah, I know exactly, I can envision everything,” Brady told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington. “Sunday Night Football, I know what that’s like. I know what the night’s like. I know what the wind’s like. I know how their team’s going to prepare. I know what their schedule’s going to be like. I know what’s going to be said.”
Brady on Patriots: ‘I Had 20 Great Years There’
This Sunday, Tom Brady goes back to New England for the most anticipated game of the regular season. And as he tells me in a sit-down interview that will air this Sunday on Sunday NFL Countdown, he’s ready for everything. Literally… everything. An excerpt:
Brady may have envisioned the primetime showdown, but the Bucs quarterback has not used the weeks leading up to the game as a time for reflection. The Bucs quarterback noted that he is focused on his new teammates and the 2021 season.
“I have great respect and admiration for my time there,” Brady said in his Week 3 press conference, per Buccaneers.com. “I had 20 great years there. I’ve kind of spoke that the last 18 months. It was a great time in my life, but I’m really happy to be here and I think we’ve done some great things in a short period of time. I really love the teammates that I have, that I’m playing with here. I love the coaches. The organization has been amazing.
“From my standpoint, I had a great time, but really my focus has been on trying to be the best I can be for this team and trying to go out and be a winning quarterback, be a championship-level quarterback, for this team and for this organization because they certainly deserve it. I made a commitment to them and I want to live up to it.”