FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• ARIANS’ NUGGETS FROM BUCS’ BEAT WRITER CONFERENCE CALL: Bucs head coach Bruce Arians spoke with Tampa Bay media members this week and shared his thoughts on the team’s acquisition of legendary QB Tom Brady and what it means to the team.

“I think it speaks volumes,” Arians said. “Arguably the best player to ever play the game is available. Our ownership was totally in agreement – let’s go get him, and Jason [Licht] got it done. With everybody this time of year, you are trying to do the best thing you can for your football team to get better for next year. For us, my priority was the defense and then the quarterback. Right now, we’ve got just about the whole defense back and we’ve changed quarterbacks. I think getting the best quarterback to ever play the game – I think it sends a good message.”

Patriots QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

Arians discussed how the 42-year old Brady has plenty of arm strength left to push the ball down the field in his vertical passing attack.

“I think the perception is just wrong,” Arians said. “I thought his deep ball was outstanding last year. Through their play-action game, they hit a lot of deep balls. Our quarterback, I thought he put it as good as anybody, ‘Throw it to the guy that’s open.’ We do have reads that start deep and come short. I’ve had a couple quarterbacks that they just keep looking deep – they won’t throw the check-down. Tom Moore has the best saying in the world, ‘You never go broke putting money in the bank. Take the damn check-down.’

“I don’t think you have to teach Tom [Brady] that. I think the freedom of looking downfield on certain routes and in certain situations when the matchup is perfect – take it. Don’t be afraid to take it. Some quarterbacks are afraid to take it. I’m not looking for a ‘check-down-Charlie’-type quarterback.”

• BRADY OWNS TB X TB: Not only will Tom Brady bring his licensed TB12 brand to Tampa Bay – and yes, he has negotiated with Chris Godwin for his No. 12 jersey – but the six-time Super Bowl champion has also trademarked the TB X TB moniker, as well. TB X TB means Tom Brady X Tampa Bay, of course.

Tom Brady’s agents have filed a new trademark application for:

TB X TB

The filing, made with the USPTO on March 20th, indicates a TB X TB clothing brand will be launched soon.

My full breakdown of the filing 👇 pic.twitter.com/25EkHC9AED

— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) March 25, 2020

• ARIANS EXCITED TO GET SUH BACK WITH THE BUCS: Bucs head coach Bruce Arians was thrilled to see defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh re-sign with Tampa Bay for one year at $8 million. Suh, one of the league’s best run-stuffing defensive tackles, commanded a lot of double teams in helping Tampa Bay have the league’s top run defense in 2019.

Bucs DT Ndamukong Suh – Photo by: Getty Images

“Yeah, I wanted the entire defense, if we could, to stay together,” Arians said. “They played so well together; each piece of the puzzle knew each other. Suh was a big, big part of it obviously – not as much in the sack game as much as his interior pressure and the great job he did against the run. We were number one against the run in the league last year and a lot of it was because of him and Vita [Vea].”

While Suh only had 2.5 sacks last year, he did recover a team-high four forced fumbles, and scored two defensive touchdowns. It’s also worth noting that Suh has been on the team with the league’s top sacker in each of the last two seasons. Suh was with the Los Angeles Rams in 2018 when Aaron Donald posted 20.5 sacks, and was in Tampa Bay last year when Shaquil Barrett notched 19.5 sacks.

• PEWTER NATION PODCAST RETURNS NEXT WEEK: The PewterReport.com staff has taken a week off from the Pewter Nation Podcast due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, but expects to record one next week.

In the meantime, here is a link to the latest Pewter Nation Podcast where the PR staff discusses Tampa Bay’s signing of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, as well as the re-signings of outside linebackers Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett, who received the franchise tag. This podcast was a good one, and we also analyzed the end or the Jameis Winston’s era in Tampa Bay.

Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 185: Brady Is A Buc

The PR team actually discussed the Bucs possibly signing Brady on January 9 in a previous episode of the Pewter Nation Podcast. Give this a listen to hear our thoughts about Brady joining the Bucs just days after the end of the 2019 campaign.

Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 175: Brady To The Bucs?

There is no better time to listen to a new Pewter Nation Podcast, which is presented by Chris Garrido of Westshore Financial, than on your drive home from work on Friday or early Saturday morning at the gym or running errands.

The popularity of the Pewter Nation Podcast continues to grow. In addition to listening to the Pewter Nation Podcasts on PewterReport.com you can also subscribe to the free podcasts at PodBean by clicking here and on SoundCloud by clicking here. And of course the Pewter Nation Podcast is also available on iTunes. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

• ARIANS DRAFTED A FIRST-ROUND WR IN HOLMES WITH PITTSBURGH: While Bucs head coach Bruce Arians didn’t draft a receiver in the first round during his time with Arizona, he was part of the Steelers organization that made Santonio Holmes a first-round pick in 2006. Arians was the Steelers wide receivers coach in 2006 and become the team’s offensive coordinator for Holmes’ final three years in Pittsburgh. Arians likely sees some similarities between Alabama speedster Henry Ruggs III and Holmes, although Ruggs is faster than Holmes, who ran a 4.38 coming out of Ohio State.

Former Steelers WR Santonio Holmes – Photo by: Getty Images

Holmes caught 389 passes for 6,030 yards (15.5 avg.) and 36 touchdowns in his nine-year NFL career. Holmes started 48 games for the Steelers and caught 423 passes for 3,835 yards (16.3 avg.) and 20 TDs in Arians’ offense. He averaged a career-high 18.1 yards per catch in his second season in Pittsburgh along with eight touchdowns that season, and capped off his Steelers career with 79 catches for 1,248 receiving yards and five TDs in 2009.

Holmes was Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl MVP the previous year, catching nine passes for 131 yards and the game-winning touchdown with 35 seconds left. He caught four passes for 73 yards on the game-winning drive. Will Arians want another Holmes-like deep threat on his roster in 2020? If he isn’t sure that Scotty Miller can be that caliber of player Arians may ask Jason Licht to draft Ruggs at No. 14 in the first round.

• FOLLOW PEWTER REPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Thanks to a lot of new Buccaneers fans due to the signing of Tom Brady, PewterReport.com has surpassed 35,400 Twitter followers on the @PewterReport Twitter account! Thank you to all of our Twitter followers. We’re also approaching 10,000 followers on Facebook, So if you don’t follow us on Twitter or Facebook please take the time to do so, Bucs fans.

Here is a list of all of the PewterReport.com social media platforms. Make sure to follow us this offseason as we cover the NFL Draft next month, plus any breaking Bucs news or press conferences.

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• WINSTON’S KNEE SURGERY GIVING TEAM’S PAUSE THIS OFFSEASON? One thing that could be slowing other teams down from signing former Bucs starting quarterback Jameis Winston is his offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus. The NFL has clamped down on teams giving physicals this offseason, and preventing teams from flying free agents into facilities as well sending team doctors to visit free agents.

Former Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo from YouTube

Of course Winston’s league-leading 30 interceptions have a lot to do with him being unsigned as well. Yet with Winston posting workout clips showing him with a knee brace, teams may want to get a close look at his surgically-repaired knee before investing millions of dollars into him – even as a backup quarterback in 2020.

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