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Shoutout from former boss.
Bucco Bruce Arians has changed his tune. A little.
A few weeks ago, the former Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning coach stated that Liam Coen of the Jags ought to be the “Coach of the Year” for his turnaround of the lowly Jags.
The Jags, behind the former offensive coordinator of the Bucs, trail first-place Indianapolis by two games in the AFC South.
Coen is no longer so fortunate for that award. In his weekly in-studio appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” yesterday, Arians said Colts coach Shane Steichen should be the AFC coach of the year.
For the NFC? Arians tagged his former defensive coordinator with the Cardinals and Bucs and the man hand-picked to succeed Arians in Tampa Bay, Todd Bowles.
Why? Rarely playing with a full deck and still entering the bye at 6-2.
> “In the NFC I got Todd Bowles,” Arians said. Bowles has led the Bucs to “6-2 with a plethora of injuries.
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> “They needed the bye. Nobody needs a bye week more than they do right now.”
Boy, ain’t that the truth. If the Bucs can get their injured players back, and perhaps Mike Evans and Calijah Kancey can rejoin the team for the playoffs, look out.
Joe remembers how Vita Vea in 2020 came back from a messed-up ankle to rejoin the Bucs just in time for the NFC title game in Green Bay. That was just the juice the Bucs needed to get over the hump.
With Vea in the lineup, Shaq Barrett went nuts. In part because teams had to account for Vea, the Bucs for a two-game stretch in the two most important, biggest games of the year, had a pass rush so fierce that even Simeon Rice stood on his feet and applauded.