your final press conference as you walk off into the sunset,
you exit. And then you come back
to say more. You actually come back
to say, thanks to all of you.
Not just you but
you know, Nationwide. And
then Florio, you can write whatever you want. I don't give
a crap. I'm surprised you didn't say, I don't give a sh
Dash T. I thought of you a couple of minutes ago because
Michael Smith. I don't know if you saw the T-shirt. Awesome
t-shirt, awesome. T-shirt Back to the Future.
Since I'm telling you, you got to, you got to watch Back to
the Future.
A great great t-shirt though. So great. How are you how
when we just talked the other day. It feels like two days.
Feel like two weeks in today's NFL, especially everything
that's gone on in the past 24 hours. Hello.
It's no doubt. I mean, listen, I'm just happy to be back in
Southern California where there are no reptiles outside my
window. Got in last night, went straight to In and Out. Got
myself a nice double double with raw onion and chopped
chilies, and
I'm good man. I just had to get Southern. You back in my system
after, you know, a few days in Florida.
Yeah. Well, it it was a productive time especially
since I didn't have to go. Thank you for carrying the flag
on my behalf. And look
the news that was kept Under Wraps. The whole time. Everyone
was in Florida. No one saw this coming, the Bruce Arians
resignation /
retirement. Hey, I had heard on the day that Tom Brady came
back within 2 hours afterward. The next shoe to drop is Aryans
is going to be out that this is part of what Brady won a 10.
Of course, they denied and I'm surprised. It wasn't a bigger
topic today. I think that was one we're after the fact, while
Tom's here. So that must mean there was no friction. Ohmic
really, really the fact that Tom Brady showed up for
the final press conference means there was no friction.
Are you kidding me? That you would come to that conclusion?
Are you kidding me? That you would just presume that. That
means there was no friction. I was blown away by that. I know
I'm probably saying too much. Oh, well, you shouldn't
be a jerk. I'm just sorry we can either deal in the truth,
or we can deal in Bologna.
Prefer to deal in the truth miles.
Oh mean, he was there. So, you know Mike, I mean, that's going
to mean that there's no friction. Of course, he's
sitting in the front. Are you kidding me? No, are you kidding
me? I'm sorry. Sarah Walsh. But are you kidding me that? You
think just because he was there, it means
there were no problems between the two guys, and his return
didn't hinge in any way, on Bruce, Arians not being
the head coach. Are you that naive? That you would think that. Are
you that naive?
Sorry. Listen, I mean, you know, it's something that you
know, we could At all think, right. It'll did Brady say, you
know, come back, if somebody reads me of this meddlesome
priest or not, and it's not just you who's saying this.
This is coming out of Boston, to,
we've been valent of the Boston Globe, literally wrote
an entire piece today. That was said, then Tom Brady's latest
win is getting Bruce Arians out as head coach. So I mean, like
we can say that just because Brady was there. There it
means, there's no friction, or
we can say, like look,
they're keeping up appearances.
They're being pulled.
Light. But just because you're polite, doesn't mean that
there's no friction at all. I think that we can all be adults
about that. Right? I mean, there's a difference between
being an adult and being a child and being petulant
and saying and acknowledging the fact that yes Bruce Arians
certainly had something to do
with Tom Brady winning. Another Super Bowl when he went down
there to Tampa Bay and they got it done. I mean, they're always
going to be tied together because of that, but just
because that happened in just because Tom Brady made a nice
and A gram posts and he was there at the press conference
does not mean that there were zero issues between those two
men. I'm not going to go that far.
Let me put it this way. Plenty of people attend the funerals
of those that they hated. I did to your funeral.
That's right.
Proving my point exactly.
That. There are certain appearances, that must be
maintained for a variety of reasons. It would have looked
horrible. If Tom
Who lives in Tampa
had not been there today?
And
I can't, I, I just prefer to reside in a world of fact, in
reality, not in a world of
naivete and pollyannaish reactions, to superficial
gestures aimed at throwing people off of the very real
scent. And the scent is very real,
the mere fact. This dawned on me last night. The mere fact
that Tom Brady on retires in 17 days. Later his head coach
leaves. And he doesn't even bat an eye about it and there's
never even any conversation. But anyone would Tom Brady's
gonna be pissed. There
was way more talk about Aaron Rodgers being pissed about
Davante Adams being traded. Yes. Then there was about there
was no talk about Tom, Brady being upset, the Bruce Arians
was walking away. And I think we may be under estimating
Bruce Arians value to the Buccaneers. Great Point made
earlier today by Chris Simms, you know Aryans very good game
day coach coaches. As I said earlier are like long Snappers,
you only notice them when they put
the ball over the head of the punter,
you only notice a Coach when he does something stupid when he
does, what he's supposed to do, we don't notice it, you know,
then there's the high-level Bill, Belichick intentional
safety and free-kick, and all this weird stuff. But the
the between the buoys head coach, that doesn't
mess up his own clock management. Doesn't
Isis own. Kicker, doesn't do dumb things to hurt his chances
to win games. We don't notice that and
we may have taken that for granted
with Bruce Arians.
That's game day. The rest of the week. Different story, but
game day.
That maybe not as easy for the Buccaneers to replace as they
think Miles.
That's true. And I think it goes back to his time. Not just
with Arizona but also that year with the Colts when he served
as the interim head coach, while Chuck Pagano was out,
right. I mean we were talking about him not just calm plays
and doing things like that. But he also was able to manage
the clock. Well, that's something that we've talked about, for
a long time, with Bruce Arians and he wasn't even calling. The
play is down there
with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But like I said, even when Was
whether it was with the Colts are with the Cardinals, you
really didn't hear any of that stuff about. Oh my gosh. What
is he doing with the timeouts? What is he doing
here in this situation? I mean, really in the last kind of
coaching mistake. If you want to call it that, and I'd say
that with air quotes is maybe like not overruling the cover 0
that they ran against the Los Angeles Rams. In that playoff game
that that's one thing that maybe we can point to
but I mean at the same time, that's him.
I see his defensive coordinator and Todd Bowles and frankly
Todd Bowles has also been very very, very good at calling
defense has, particularly since he's been back with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers and under Bruce Arians
after his stint as the Jets head coach. So
I think that you're right in saying that yeah, that's
something that game management element. That is something that
they could miss going forward.
Yeah, and we just assume that everything is going to be
the same the betting odds have not changed on any metric for
the Buccaneers, winning
the division, winning the conference winning
the Superbowl. They're all the same. I just don't know that we
should come to that conclusion. I think if I'm the Rams,
I feel pretty good about this. I feel pretty good about this
because
Bruce Arians was a very good game day coach and the problem
ultimately was he was semi if not mostly retired and this
applies in any
organization, my
Is of all of a sudden I decided I was only going to work
two hours a day on PFT and
you and the other writers would know it.
And then if I wasn't rolling as hard as everyone else, and
I show up and I start saying. Oh, yeah, this is stupid. You got
to do this. No do it. No, no natural human resentment will
emerge. And I think that's what happened. Plain, and simple,
Tom, Brady, and Byron Leftwich busting their asses to put
the office together, each and every week, Bruce Arians, not their
elbow to Elbow doing it. And then you
Throw in what rich hornberger said, and I'm telling you.
I know you're not supposed to out sources, Rich Warren burger and
a q Shipley are thick as thieves. They go back to Penn
State. They're close friends. There's no secret about
it. And Shipley's on the Buccaneers coaching staff. So
at a minimum before Rich, Warren Burger starts spouting
off, all this stuff about friction between Tom Brady and
Bruce Arians on Twitter
at a minimum. He's checking with a coup Shipley to make
sure he's not barking up the wrong tree. So when Orrin
Burger starts talking about Aryans coming in and redlining
game plans, and
it's going to piss people off.
If that is human nature, why are you messing with our work,
your out golfing or doing whatever other than working?
We're here working. Don't mess with our work. So now the Todd
Bowles, is the head coach. Todd Bowles isn't going to mess
with the offensive work.
It's going to be left, which and it's going to be Brady.
It's going to be exactly what they wanted in that comments
that mean Common Sense. Circumstantial evidence,
whatever you want to call it.
It isn't very difficult to get from point A to point B. It's
the only explanation that makes sense. If anything Aryans would
be rejuvenated by Tom.
He coming back. He was staring at a year of uncertainty, which
was likely going to be his last year as a coach. Who's
the quarterback in to be?
I don't know. Is going to be Baker? Mayfield.
I don't know. We're getting shown Watson. I don't know.
I don't know who we're going to get all Tom Brady's back. Well,
I'm out. Now
I did. That makes no sense.
Anyway.
Unless you believe what he's saying about succession plans
and weaving the place in a better place than he found it.
And, you know, I mean, I'm just going by what he said, right?
If we take his words at face value,
then Tom Brady coming back. Makes him say. Well, now I can
leave and now I have a succession plan and that's more
important to me than going into the Hall of Fame and it's more
important to me
than anything else because the last time I left
a head coaching job,
I thought that I had
set my guys up very very
Well, and turns out I didn't really do that. Right, you know
you bring in Steve Wilkes and he gets fired after only one
year
and then they bring in Kliff Kingsbury,
right? And so all of that stuff. I'm basically saying
like my assistant coaches, who means so much to me, which
I believe him. When he says that his assistant coaches mean
a lot to him. I really do
because he's shown that throughout his the course of
his career, right? So he's saying that his assistant
coaches mean, so much to him, and he wants to set them up.
Well, I do believe him when he says
Does that. But at the same time that
the timing of this is still weird?
It's not like we see coaches all the time.
Leave their positions in late March,
but that's weird.
I think we can all agree. It's a little weird despite whatever
we want to say about Tom Brady coming back and how Aryans
wants to set up guys and all that. Like it's weird to leave
your position a month before the draft after you've already
gone through the combine after.
You've already gone through all these different things.
The timing of this is odd,
no matter what you want to say about it.
Yeah, you've put in a lot of work in crafting. The next
season each year is its own house. You've already built
the foundation for the next house and now you are walking away
while the work is still in progress.
He said that I can write what I want. I assume he also means
I can say what I want. So I'll continue to do that. Let's hear
what he had to say about
the timeline
Mi. You may be attending. My funeral sooner than you ever
realized. Here is a Arians talking about the timeline of
his decision
to walk away now.
Thought about after the season
but again,
it wasn't right
obviously
going through the combine going through all that process
trying to build next year's Team without Tom then when Tom
said he come back so
now it's now it's easy.
Now. It's easy. We're in the best shape we've ever been,
it's a no better. Time to pass the torch then now I don't know
what February brings.
All right, but I know what today brings
and it makes me really happy
when we talk to you at the combine. You were so excited
about this upcoming season. You were even talking about some of
these younger guys.
Whether it's gabbard or Trask did, did it change between
the combine and now
your decision to step away? Yeah, because at that point in
time I had to be excited, you know, it was it was about
building this next team
and every years different,
a lot of it changed when Tommy's,
He was coming back.
And so then it was
it's time, it's time to pass this torch.
Okay, I yeah, I mean
what if you're already?
Not because because this is what's been explained to me in
the past. Like I raised maybe late in the 2021 season. The
idea that well Bruce Arians maybe walks away after this
year
and whoever I was talking to about it. So, why would he
he's got it made,
he's got a maid, he's not grinding.
He's not busting his ass.
He's got Tom. Brady,
as long as he's got, Tom Brady and he's got a lifestyle that
is conducive to his desires. Why would he do it? So
look, I think the bottom line is and
Got to give Jason light a ton of credit here because my guess is
Jason was the one who sat down and presented this plan
to Bruce Arians.
And I think Aryans recognized and I Gotta Give Aryans credit
for, not making it
awkward, not making it ugly, not making it contentious.
This is a win.
I'm still with the team.
I get to create this impression of succession.
If somebody texted me during the show, he had so much power.
He can pick a successor. Really
right. After three years. As the head coach.
They've abdicated their
power to determine who the head coaches to Bruce. Arians.
He has that much if he has that much power. Why is he leaving?
I'm really. So I think they came up with a narrative that
he would buy into,
and that would be the right way for him to walk off into
the sunset. And if they win the Super Bowl this year, he gets
a second ring and he gets to say he was partially responsible
for it.