Bruce Arians Has Blunt Response To Being Asked About Calling Plays
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 02: Head coach Bruce Arians of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reacts during the first half against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on November 02, 2020 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can consider themselves lucky that offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is coming back for the 2021 season. If he hadn't, head coach Bruce Arians probably wouldn't have been the one to take over playcalling duties.
On Thursday's edition of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Arians admitted that if either Leftwich or defensive coordinator Todd Bowles had left, he might have considered quitting. One big reason is he doesn't want to have to go back to calling plays.
Arians made it clear that Leftwich is the only person he trusts calling the plays. He admitted that he would seriously consider leaving the game if Leftwich departs.
“If I lost Byron or Todd [Bowles], I’d have to think about [quitting] because not losing any coaches this year makes next year so much easier and so much easier to repeat,” Arians said, via ProFootballTalk. “But once you start deleting your coaching staff, I don’t want to go back to calling plays. And Byron right now is still the only guy I trust doing it. And I’d have to think long and hard if I was going to lose him.”
There's no question that Bruce Arians has a superb coaching staff working for him on top of the elite talent that takes the field every week.
Leftwich is a rapidly rising star in the coaching ranks, while Bowles already has NFL head coaching experience. Given what they accomplished for Arians in 2020, they'll be at the top of the list for head coaching candidates in 2021.
And judging by what Arians has said, if that happens, it could spell the end of his tenure in Tampa Bay.
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