Bruce Arians Reportedly Makes Decision On Coaching 2022 Season

]

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed a Super Bowl victory last year, there was some speculation that head coach Bruce Arians would retire from his longtime NFL coaching duties. Clearly that wasn’t the case — and it reportedly won’t be the case next year either.

According to reports from NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, Arians intends to lead the Bucs out onto the field in 2022.

The @NFLGameDay Notebook with @MikeGarafolo & @TomPelissero: #Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster will play; #Bucs coach Bruce Arians expected to return next season; #Cowboys DC Dan Quinn has emerged as a favorite for the #Broncos; The #Dolphins expect Tua to be their QB in 2022. pic.twitter.com/wpDVLTwadv — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 15, 2022

Bruce Arians, 69, is currently in the midst of his third season with the Tampa Bay franchise. Through that time, he’s led the team to a 31-18 overall record — including a Super Bowl LV victory in his first season with Tom Brady under center.

Prior to his time with the Bucs, Arians notched head coaching stints with the Arizona Cardinals (2013-17) and Indianapolis Colts (interim in 2012). Before that, he has decades more experience at both the college and NFL levels dating back to 1975.

Tomorrow afternoon, Arians will lead his Bucs in a Wild Card matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bruce Arians Shares Latest On Buccaneers Injury News

]

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians had a small update on starting tackle Tristan Wirfs after Sunday’s playoff win against the Eagles.

Wirfs went down with a sprained ankle during the opening series and returned briefly before leaving for good. Arians confirmed that he will see how Wirfs is doing next week when it comes to his availability for the divisional round.

Arians will only say that Tristan Wirfs has a sprained ankle, and they’ll see how he’s doing next week. — Greg Auman (@gregauman) January 16, 2022

Josh Wells took Wirfs’ place after he went out for good.

Wirfs has started every game in his career and was just named an all-pro this past week. He’s done a stellar job protecting Tom Brady’s strong side throughout the season.

Even though he left with an injury, the Buccaneers still took down the Eagles with ease. Tampa Bay was up 31 going into the fourth quarter and still won by two scores at the end (31-15).

Brady has won 17 of his last 20 playoff games going back to 2014 and finished this one with 271 yards and two touchdown passes.

If Wirfs is good to go for next weekend, plus if Leonard Fournette comes back, this team will only look scarier.

Bruce Arians Is Delusional With His Recent Tom Brady Take

]

It’s one thing for a coach to stick up for his player. It’s another thing to go overboard while doing so. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians got a little carried away recently when praising quarterback Tom Brady. Arians took things a bit too far when it came to Brady and the race for the NFL’s MVP.

Tom Brady is right in the middle of the MVP race

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and head coach Bruce Arians talk during warm ups prior to the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on January 2, 2022, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. | Elsa/Getty Images.

Brady is right in the mix when it comes to the 2021 NFL MVP. The 44-year-old quarterback put together yet another stellar season in guiding the Bucs to a 13-4 regular-season record and the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

He lit up the stat sheet in his 22nd season in the NFL. Brady led the league with 5,316 passing yards and was also tops in touchdown passes with 43. He’s shown no signs of slowing down in his second year with the Buccaneers. Loaded with weapons, Brady threw the ball a league-leading 719 times and averaged an NFL-best 312.7 yards per game.

The Bucs begin their second season Sunday when they host the Philadelphia Eagles. It will be a rematch of their Week 6 meeting when the Bucs defeated the Eagles 28-22.

In that game, Brady threw for 297 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon knows he’s in for a challenge trying to stop Brady, who is seeking his fourth MVP.

“This guy, he’s a trained killer and he knows how to play good offense and what he needs to do to keep his offense on track, so it’s going to be a big-time challenge,” Gannon said of Brady, per The Associated Press.

Bruce Arians gets a little carried away in his recent Tom Brady take

Yes, Brady had an MVP-type season but so have others. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers led his team to the top seed in the NFC. Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor are also candidates for MVP.

Arians, however, believes there is only one player deserving of the honor and that’s Brady. Arians recently said it would be a “travesty” if Brady didn’t come away with his fourth MVP.

“I think if he doesn’t get it, it’s a travesty,” Arians said Monday, according to ESPN. “Most completions ever, 5,000 yards, touchdowns — the whole nine yards.”

Travesty might be a little severe, but that’s not even what makes Arians look foolish as he backs up his talented quarterback. What he followed up with next makes Arians’ argument quite ludicrous.

“To me, it’s not even a close race,” he actually said.

Aaron Rodgers is the favorite to win the 2021 MVP

For Arians to claim the race for MVP isn’t close is absurd. Brady isn’t even considered the favorite. He may have more passing yards and touchdown passes, but Rodgers will likely win his fourth MVP this year instead of Brady. Rodgers also deserves it.

In 188 fewer passing attempts than Brady, Rodgers tossed 37 touchdown passes and collected 4,115 passing yards. He sat out one game after testing positive for COVID-19 and that resulted in one of the Packers’ four losses.

Both Rodgers and Brady had a clunker of a game. Rodgers’ came Week 1 in a 38-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Since that game, Rodgers has only been picked off two times. Brady’s tough outing came in Week 15 when the Bucs were blanked by the New Orleans Saints in a 9-0 loss.

Brady backers will stress that he lost his top two receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, in that game. Running back Leonard Fournette also was injured. That may be true, but Rodgers played Week 8 without his top three receivers and went into Arizona and defeated the previously unbeaten Cardinals 24-21.

Arians making a case for Brady to win the MVP isn’t foolish. Saying the race isn’t even close shows the Bucs coach might be a bit delusional.

RELATED: Tom Brady Just Upped the Ante When It Comes to Retirement Talk

Bruce Arians Explains Surprising Leonard Fournette Decision

]

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette will not play in this afternoon’s wild card game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

As a result, we’ll have to wait at least one more week to see “Playoff Lenny” if the Bucs win. Fournette has not played since December 19 due to a hamstring injury.

The Bucs placed Fournette on injured reserve after he got hurt, and the original hope was that he’d be ready to go come playoff time. That won’t be the case.

Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians spoke with FOX’s Sara Walsh this morning and further explained why Fournette is being held out this afternoon.

“It’s just a little tweak (hamstring). He wasn’t full speed when he really opened up and tried to push off a couple times,” Arians told Walsh. “It caught him, So we’re just going to be very cautious with him.”

Just spoke w/Bruce Arians about Leonard Fournette and why he won’t return today:

“It’s just a little tweak (hamstring). He wasn’t full Speed when he really opened up And tried to push off a couple times. It caught him, So we’re just going to be very cautious with him.” #GoBucs — Sara Walsh (@Sara_Walsh) January 16, 2022

In addition to Fournette, the Bucs won’t have Ronald Jones, their No. 2 running back, available against the Eagles either. Jones is dealing with an ankle injury.

Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Le’Veon Bell figure to share the rushing workload for Tampa Bay today, along with Gio Bernard.

Kickoff between the Bucs and Eagles is set for 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

Bruce Arians playoff message: ‘2021 is over’

]

article

2021 is over, that’s the message Bruce Arians delivered to his Bucs when they arrive for their first playoff practice. It’s a whole new season and the Bucs need to step up their game.

“Make sure we are prepared,” stated Rob Gronkowski. “We have to go out there and we have to have good practices. We have to make sure we are doing our assignments. It’s basically get focused and know your plays inside and out.”

The Bucs need to be ready for the Eagles. They’re not the team that the Bucs jumped out to a 28-7 lead against in October and held on to beat. Excluding week 18, when they rested starters, the Eagles have been climbing, going 7-2 before the season finale.

“Oh yeah, totally different – playing with a ton of confidence, won a bunch of ball games since we played them,” said Arians. “Once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen, so they’re going to be fired up. They’ve got a ton of weapons and they look pretty healthy. So, yeah, it’s a totally different football team than we played back there in October.”

PREVIOUS: Bucs enter playoffs with momentum after winning regular-season finale against Carolina

It’s on the ground where the Eagles are dangerous. The Eagles are one of the best at running the football, which was once a Bucs defensive strength that they need to get back to.

“The way to get back to it is just to go ahead and follow our keys – stay with our fundamentals and pursue and swarm to the ball, said Will Gholston. “I think that’s the only thing we can do better is to swarm to the ball and attack more. Everything will go into [place].”

READ: Tom Brady: ‘A lot of personal feelings’ about Antonio Brown

Sunday will be the Bucs first playoff game in Raymond James Stadium in 14 years. Unlike last year, the Bucs will have at least have the home-field advantage for the first two rounds and they want it to be and expect it to be a huge factor.

“You know the first home playoff game (for Buc), since probably I was middle school,” shared Mike Evans. “I don’t even know what year it was (2007). I was probably younger than that. Last year the Super Bowl was here, but that really doesn’t count. They didn’t have all the Bucs stuff (signage) in the stadium. I’m really excited. We’ve been waiting a long time for this and hopefully, we can put on a great showing.”

CONNECT WITH FOX 13:

Download our free news app