Is Bruce Arians the coach he was hired to be in Tampa Bay?

When rookie cornerback Jamel Dean was thrust into his first NFL start against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 he wasn’t ready, playing just three defensive snaps up to that point in the season. But a pregame injury suffered by starting cornerback Carlton Davis forced Dean into the starting lineup where he was picked on, allowing three touchdowns and almost 200 receiving yards in coverage.

It was largely a game to forget, but Dean harnessed that feeling and began arriving early to the Buccaneers’ practice facility to get extra film work in with defensive coordinator Todd Bowles the following week.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Getty Images

So when when the Arizona Cardinals traveled to Raymond James, though Dean wasn’t given the starting nod, he entered the game when Vernon Hargreaves – who would be waived shortly the following Tuesday – was benched due to a lack of hustle. The film study surely seemed fruitful as the young defensive back allowed just one reception for a loss of two yards and even played the hero role, coming up with a late interception off of Kyler Murray that allowed Tampa Bay’s offense to drive the field and score the game-winning touchdown. Dean’s performance, which included four pass breakups and that timely interception, would earn him Pro Football Focus’ highest grade for a defender in Week 10.

Strangely enough, after such a strong performance, Dean would then play zero defensive snaps against the New Orleans Saints in Week 11, where Tampa Bay lost the match-up 34-17, forcing no turnovers as quarterback Drew Brees tossed three touchdowns.

Why?

“We went with a different nickel package with Mike Edwards inside,” Arians said at his press conference following the loss on Sunday. “We played a lot more zone. [Dean] was more in the man-to-man group. We’ll fix that. He needs to be out there on the field more.”

Arians repeated his sentiment on Monday.

“I want Jamel Dean on the field.”

But if he wanted Dean on the field, isn’t that ultimately his decision and his call?

While Bowles is the defensive coordinator and handles calling the plays, Arians is the head coach. At the end of the day, lineups, playing time and personnel decisions all boil down to the head coach and fall on the shoulders of Arians, as Bowles asserted himself at his weekly press conference on Wednesday.

Bucs DC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“He’s the head coach, so he’s got a say on everything,” Bowles said. “We talk about everything every week anyway, we don’t do anything on defense without discussing a lot of the things with him anyway. He’s the head coach, he has all the say.”

If that’s true, then why did Arians take multiple opportunities to mention Dean needing to be on the field more frequently after failing to see a single snap on defense?

I tried to figure out why Arians’ comments continued to bother me for days after his press conference when it dawned on me that Dean’s absence was a microcosm of the 2019 season. It’s a telling sign about who Tampa Bay has brought in to lead the Bucs and why he isn’t the same coach that led Indianapolis to a 9-3 record in his interim position or Arizona to a lightning-quick turnaround in 2013 and eventual conference championship appearance in 2015.

If a chef is tasked with cooking a meal, knowing that three tablespoons of garlic salt are a key component to his main course, he wouldn’t leave that ingredient out, try something new and then comment on the ingredient’s necessity after the fact. And he certainly wouldn’t bring in another cook to make his specialty.

I would be a fool to say that I know for certain, but on the surface, the Arians that patrols Tampa Bay’s practices on a golf cart, moving between each unit as they implement their weekly game plan, appears to be someone who delegates more than he demands.

Arians is a head coach known for his offensive mind, proclaimed as the “quarterback whisperer” following his stellar work with Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck and Carson Palmer.

With so much at stake as Tampa Bay comes off of back-to-back 5-11 seasons and franchise quarterback Jameis Winston being in a crucial contract year, Arians came out of retirement and turned over play-calling duties for the first time in his career to a young offensive coordinator with just 10 total games of functional experience. And that’s despite Byron Leftwich currently sitting as arguably the fourth-most experienced play-caller on Tampa Bay’s extremely experienced staff behind Arians himself, quarterback coach Clyde Christensen and run game coordinator Harold Goodwin, who have all served stints as offensive coordinators.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Getty Images

Arians appears to be a head coach who clearly wants to win but doesn’t seem to need it. Sort of like he returned to the league because he hated broadcasting more than he truly missed all that goes into coaching. In short, he seems to have lost some of the fire that’s absolutely required to win in this league and the result is a paltry 3-7 record with six games remaining. Not a lack passion or desire – a lack fire for a team that needs to absolutely be fired up and learn to hate losing more than it loves winning.

Is the 67-year Arians delegating to this extent for the benefit of his health? Was turning around a historically terrible Bucs franchise more of a feather in his cap than a proving ground like Indy and Arizona were? Are the coaching snafus that include delay of game penalties on potentially game-winning kicks, back-to-back timeouts and numerous challenge flags thrown to “make a point” Arians’ way of impacting the game in a direct way now that his mind isn’t occupied with play-calling?

Arians is no stranger to challenge flag blunders, but this is an uncharacteristic time for the two-time NFL Coach of the Year given his track record as a head coach, and it’s possibly a grim reality for Tampa Bay as the Bucs move forward with the head coach that was supposed to bring a self-advertised quick-fix.

I’m not saying that Arians has instantaneously become a bad head coach and I’m not saying that Leftwich won’t turn out to be a good offensive coordinator in time. I’m not saying that the defense won’t improve in the coming offseason, or that the Bucs don’t have a bright future ahead with Arians at the helm. But it’s going to be a much different journey than what was initially sold as truth when Arians stepped into One Buc Place and stated his confidence in Winston’s play and that the secondary was repaired soon after the draft.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Getty Images

Arians hasn’t done his best coaching job this year for a team that desperately needed it. The Bucs’ 3-7 record is evidence of that.

In hindsight, the fans, the media – and even the head coach himself – should have known that a turnaround with this roster would not come as easily, nor as quickly as Arians thought. And if a turnaround is the eventual result, it’s going to come from a much different road than the one Arians took with the Colts and Cardinals in Tampa Bay.