Coming out of their bye and playing against what had been one of the NFL’s worst defenses, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were widely expected to rout the Washington Football Team in Week 10. But things didn’t work out that way. The Bucs turned the ball over twice, took six penalties, went just four of 10 on third down and committed several mental errors throughout the game. As a result, they lost to Washington by a final score of 29-19.
It was the second time in three weeks that they’ve lost to a team they probably should have beaten, that was playing its backup quarterback in the game. After the loss, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians was palpably upset with his team’s performance and unloaded on the job done by both the players and his own coaching staff.
“It has nothing to do with ability,” Arians said, per ESPN.com. “It’s about execution and being a smart football team. We’re a very dumb football team. And that’s a reflection on the coaches.”
The good thing, Arians said, is that those problems are not insurmountable.
“Energy and passion are very fixable,” Arians said. “The penalties — they’ve gotta get corrected sooner or later. The first play of the game — they’re shifting and we jump offsides. They don’t even run a play and we jump offsides. The stupidity has to go away if we’re gonna go anywhere.”
Arians also noted that the Buccaneers’ poor performance extends not just to games, but apparently to practices. And he said that he sees that seeping into the team’s play on Sundays.
“It’s very disappointing,” Arians said. “It’s very alarming to watch the energy at every practice and show up with a lack of execution and energy that it takes to win on Sunday. We’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do.”
The Bucs have an extra day to get things back on track before their next game, as they host the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” in Week 11. Arians apparently thinks they need that extra day, so it’s good that they’ll get it.
