There will be no complacency among the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they defend their Super Bowl title. Coach Bruce Arians appears set on making sure of that.
Arians unloaded on his players after Friday’s workout, telling the media that the team had been “sluggish” and he was “not pleased” with the effort or performance.
“It was just a horses–t practice,” Arians said, via Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times. “I’m really not pleased; I thought we were really, really sluggish. We talked about it before we left (Wednesday) and took the day off (Thursday). I don’t know if our receivers caught a pass. Same thing defensively, we didn’t stop anything over third-and-9. … Hopefully, we’ll be better in pads (Saturday).”
It’s not common for a coach to go off on his team in public like that, especially less than a week into training camp. Part of Arians’ stance is likely because of the Buccaneers' status as reigning champions. It will only be harder to defend that title, as Tampa Bay will have a target on its collective back now.
The good news for Arians? He has a quarterback who won’t tolerate mediocrity either.
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