What Bruce Arians Thinks of Buccaneers' 0-4 Start
· Yahoo Sports
Many people have a lot to say about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 0-4 start, but the last Bucs head coach to win a Super Bowl is confident the Bucs can turn it around.
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The Buccaneers still employ former head coach Bruce Arians as a Senior Football Consultant. He wasn't going to say anything too critical.
“It’s a long season,” Arians told Yahoo Sports Tuesday. “You know, they’re 0-4. That’s just September. You know, October is going to be a big, big month for them."
Yes, it is a long season, but the Bucs have already put themselves in a hole that, historically, is almost impossible to climb out of.
The only team in league history that's made the playoffs after a 0-4 start was the 1992 San Diego Chargers. October is a massive month for the Bucs.
It started poorly, with Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers at Raymond James Stadium.
The Bucs don't have long to sulk about the loss, taking on the Dallas Cowboys in Jerry World Thursday night.
After that, the Bucs will return home to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The next week, Tampa has its first of six NFC South games, taking on the Panthers in Carolina to close out the month. Tampa will then open November hosting the Atlanta Falcons on the first day of the month.
There's a good chance that the Bucs play the entire month of October without their most important offensive and defensive players. Baker Mayfield suffered a dislocated thumb in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sept. 27 and will be out 3-6 weeks. Antoine Winfield Jr. suffered an oblique injury against Green Bay and will be out 2-4 weeks.
When the '92 Chargers rallied to make the playoffs, quarterback Stan Humphries started 14 games. Tampa won't have that type of stability.
There are some bright spots, although Bucs fans would be justified in not wanting to hear or read about them considering the awful start.
There hasn't yet been a game where Tampa has not had a chance to win. All four losses were by one possession or score.
Tampa also has one of the NFL's best defenses from an advanced analytics standpoint, although the team ranks just 20th in points allowed.
Offensively-- which, of course, was Arians' forte throughout his coaching career-- only seven teams have scored fewer points than the Bucs, and Arians knows a big reason why.
“Right now, their offensive line’s got to play better,” Arians said. “I think they need to run the ball better, and that offensive line is intact, and they’re really, really good.”
To Arians' point, Tampa is 17th in the league in rushing yards, which is a sign that the offensive line isn't imposing its will the way it should be.
Interestingly, the Bucs are tied for eighth in team yards per carry average at 4.4, which suggests that their low amount of yards results from the team spending so much time trailing.
The Bucs can start to fix things Thursday at 8:15 on Amazon Prime.