Buccaneers coaching staff looked anything but experienced vs. Giants

Despite having tons of experience, Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers coaching staff looked anything but experienced in their loss to the Giants.

Entering this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had all of the hype surrounding them, and it was mostly because of the coaching staff that was assembled this Spring. The hiring of head coach Bruce Arians was supposed to jumpstart the team and avoid any type of rebuild as he brought with him plenty of experience and playoff performances; he also brought with him Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich to avoid any type of steep learning curve.

However after a devastating loss to the New York Giants that saw the pewter and red blow an 18 point lead, this coaching staff looked anything but experienced.

The first half of the game, Leftwich had a great balance of run and pass going, leading to plenty of deep shots from Jameis Winston to Mike Evans. This aggression on the offensive side of the ball was refreshing and to watch as the Buccaneers jumped on the Giants early on.

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However as the second half came along, the Buccaneers chose to pack it in and attempt to drain the clock. While they had success on the ground with both Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber, they refused to put the ball in the air after Winston threw just one interception; this led to running the ball on third down and short, and to ultra-safe short passes for the rest of the game.

After punter Bradley Pinion did not see the field the entire first half, he was forced to jog onto the field on the first three possessions of the second half due to Leftwich’s refusal to stick with what worked well in the first half. The Buccaneers put just three points on the board in the second half after torching the Giants’ secondary for over 200 yards and three scores through the air.

While the second half offensive play calling was a definite cause for a good head scratch, the most puzzling of moves came from the decision making of Arians down the stretch. As the Buccaneers were moving the ball well down the field, they were forced with a fourth down and short; a touchdown would have put the game away, while a field goal would not have even stretched the lead to a two score game.

Bruce Arians chose to kick the field goal regardless, putting the Buccaneers up by just six points and the rest was history as the Giants would drive down the field and score to take a one point lead. This decision did not phase Jameis, as he connected with both Chris Godwin and Evans on back-to-back plays to put the Buccaneers well within field goal range.

The head ball coach then made another head scratching move: he chose to take a delay of game in order to make kicker Matt Gay feel more comfortable from a deeper range. While the kick was still extremely makeable, Gay was forced to move back five yards and inevitably hooking the kick wide right.

For a coaching staff touted for their experience and savvy, this performance against the Giants was nothing short of novice. Arians and company will have to shape up rather quickly as their next matchup is against one of the great young minds in the game as the Los Angeles Rams and Sean McVay will look to remain undefeated.