Football is a physical game. There are little doubts about that. But, it's also a mental one. Mistakes made in a players head can alter a game for better or worse; it's often the latter. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their head coach Bruce Arians are witnessing that.
Though the Buccaneers are 1-1 in the preseason and won against the Miami Dolphins 16-14 on a field goal made by rookie kicker Matt Gay, those mental mistakes are on the mind of Arians. In those two weeks of play, his new team has recorded 22 penalties for 193 yards.
While his team got the win against Miami, those mental mistakes are weighing on the coach. As he said after the game, via USA Today's Colin Liotta,
“That’s the thing that’s going to separate you making the team. Whether we look on the wavier wire for somebody else, you’re showing me you’re not smart enough to be a Buc.”
That's not the first time Arians has been less than pleased about mental errors. On Friday, the coach said, per ESPN's Jenna Laine,
“I think our top-20 guys on both sides played really well. Then, the continuation of the dumbest penalties I have ever seen with our second group continue. They’re lucky we’re not cutting tomorrow.”
Arians has never been one to lie; he's honest even to a fault. And mental errors drive coaches insane. Luckily, as he says “we're not cutting tomorrow,” and the Buccaneers haven't yet played a regular-season game in 2019. But, it's clear they have some work to do.
Follow Us
Subscribe