Bucs: Bruce Arians has left behind “no risk it no biscuit” mentality

A new offense

The Buccaneer offense has looked very different this year. Part of that is Brady’s arm, but the calls have been strange too. The Bucs rely on running backs far more now than they did last year. Running backs get more designed touches than ever before, even though the Buccaneers have more viable receiver targets than most other teams in the league.

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In addition to the calls on the field, Arians has also made some calls that directly counter his favorite saying. In Sunday’s win against the Vikings, the Buccaneers earned an untimed down at the end of the first half on the goal line.

The numbers proved that the Buccaneers needed to kick the field goal and the points before half on a gift, but Arians hasn’t been a numbers guy before. Why start now? Brady on a QB sneak from the one-yard line is a nearly unstoppable play, meaning the Buccaneers left four points on the board for “safety.”

Had Dan Bailey made all of his kicks, the outcome could’ve been far different, but one still has to wonder why Bruce Arians has changed so much during this season.

Everyone knows that Arians is starting to feel the heat after the underperformance to start the season, but his strategy has worked offensively more often than not. To abandon this strategy now would hurt the playoff chances, not help them.

Brady is capable of thriving in a typical Bruce Arians offense, and moving away from that offense for Brady and not for Jameis Winston feels disingenuous. Brady is still the better quarterback, but why change things now and not last season when circumstances started to slip?

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