Bruce Arians Takes A Shot at Belichick’s Coaching Style
When Rex Ryan was given the job as New York Jets Head Coach, in a shot at New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, he famously came out and said “I didn’t come here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings” to let him know that he came to New York to win and take down the Patriots.
While the Jets did get to two AFC championship games in Ryan’s first two seasons as head coach, it all went south after that. Ryan also didn’t win one single division title in six seasons and after a 4-12 season in 2014, he was fired by the Jets with a total record of 46-50. This was followed by two seasons with the Buffalo Bills -- another opponent in the NFC East -- where he got fired with one game left in his second season. So while it’s great fun for us in the media, in hindsight maybe he would have been better off staying quiet and winning more football games.
Following the Philadelphia Eagles victory over the New England Patriots in Superbowl LII, some players took potshots at Belichick and the team. Since then the Eagles have had two solid 9-7 seasons with one division title and two playoff appearances. Then this season they finished 4-11-1 and are currently competing with the Texans for the biggest postseason mess in the NFL. The Patriots on the other hand came back the following season to beat the LA Rams in the Superbowl.
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It’s no secret that Bill Belichick runs a tight ship, and it seems a lot of players are happy to do their time there and then move on to greener pastures. But when he has been so successful over such a long period of time -- let’s not forget his success as the New York Giants Defensive Coordinator -- then maybe it’s best to do the talking on the field and move on.
This brings me to Bruce Arians and his quotes this past week. Following the Buccaneers victory over the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round last Sunday, Arians called out Belichick by saying “New England didn’t allow him to coach!” In reference to Brady’s excellent performances of late. There’s no doubt that just like Rex Ryan, as well as the Eagles players, Arians has had a lot of success in the league with the Cardinals and is known for taking risks as an offensive coordinator.
However, it's justifiable to question whether his risk-taking approach is what led Jameis Winston to throw so many interceptions and possibly led Tom Brady to have a very rocky start to his Tampa Bay career. So it doesn’t say much for his coaching that the Buccaneers Offense has got significantly better since he took a step back and let Brady take charge.
It’s hard to know if this is just Arian’s way of staying relevant and flexing his muscles on how great a coach he is to be able to handle Brady, but it looks like it has backfired. Especially when you consider how quick he was to have a pop at Brady in the media after he had a few poor performances, something else Belichick never did.
Bill Belichick has more Super Bowl wins than Bruce Arians has playoff wins, that really says it all on why Arians should keep his head down, coach his team and focus on winning the NFC championship game. With Aaron Rodgers in the form he is, it's going to take a great team effort from the Bucs to pull out a win. There’s no doubt it should be a great game between the two future Hall of Famers at quarterback.
