Thursday, 3 a.m.
By now, Bruce Arians is used to the world of overreaction.
Fans seemed to have turned on the Bucs, the talk of the NFL a few hours ago. An opening-day defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints seems to have changed all of that.
That's the way it works in the NFL. Winning means approval; anything less is a cardinal sin.
“I was amused when they handed us the Lombardi trophy in July," Arians said. "It’s part of the business. You go with it and it’s one week at a time
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(and) one day at a time. We win a few games in a row and everybody will be back on the bandwagon (and) happy. It’s just part of the game. If we lose this week, the world will come to an end.”
Perhaps. But Arians is the guy who has said he embraces expectations. No team in the league had more this off-season. Still, flaws remain.
On other subjects:
(On if watching the film made his mood improve): “I think you always are. You’re very disappointed [after the game] and then you look at it and you take all the good things that happened. The things that were bad – could they be correctable? They were very correctable and we’re on to Carolina now.”
(On inside linebacker Devin White): “He’s running the show. He’s got Lavonte [David] next to him, so it’s easy to look over and say, ‘What do you think?’ They work really, really well together on getting the checks and everything that we want to do and getting us in the right fronts and making sure the back end is connected. He’s well on his way of taking over.”
(On how cornerback Carlton Davis III has improved: “His understanding of the game (and) what he’s trying to get done. His technique has improved tremendously. He did have the one penalty – the pass interference. I think he had him covered too good – just don’t hook him. He’s a big, physical guy who’s learned how to play in front of people and he’s doing a heck of a job with it.”
(On the piped-in crowd noise): “I’d like to just hear somebody hollering – not a steady hum. Like I said, we’re used to crowd noise. I’m used to going to that stadium and having a ton of energy. It was just so different. I think it was different for all of us – players, coaches, everybody. For us going into [Raymond James Stadium], it was louder at our scrimmages than I’m sure it’s going to be allowed to be. It’s just something we have to get used to until we get our fans back.”
(On the reaction to his criticism of quarterback Tom Brady after Sunday's interceptions): “Tom and I are fine, so I don’t really care what other people think. It’s just what he and I think. We left the stadium fine (and) we showed up today fine, so there (is) nothing to talk about.”
(On Brady and Scotty Miller): “They worked very, very hard all summer and had a great camp together. It showed up in the ballgame – that’s usually what happens. It happens in practice every day. We like all three of our (wide receiver) weapons and our tight ends, so Tom distributes the ball to the guys. It’s not like, ‘Hey, we’re throwing this one to Scotty – that’s the way it is.’ He has a lot of trust in, I think, all those guys.”
(On the play of tight end Rob Gronkowski): “I thought he played fine. There were some times where he was matched up on Cam Jordan and some other guys – that’s no easy chore for any tight end, especially if it’s your first game back. We’d like to have seen a little more push, but a stalemate against him – I’ll take that every time. He got his feet wet back in the league and was fine. Nothing glaring, that’s for sure.”