FAB 3. Inside The Bucs Press Conferences – Arians, Winston And White

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, quarterback and rookie inside linebacker Devin White took to the podium at the AdventHealth Training Center at One Buccaneer Place to officially kick off Tampa Bay’s 2019 training camp on Thursday.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: PewterReport.com

Arians was chipper and upbeat, saying that he was even more excited about this training camp in Tampa Bay than he was with his first training camp as a head coach in Arizona in 2013. Winston was absolutely giddy, grinning the whole time and speaking with the energy of someone who had consumed an entire four-pack of Red Bulls. It’s night and day from last year when Winston entered camp dejected as the No. 2 quarterback due to his looming suspension to start the 2018 season. Winston finally has a coach that believes in him in Arians, as he didn’t have that level of support from previous head coach Dirk Koetter.

White was subdued, and understandably so after losing his beloved horse Daisy Mae, who succumbed to dehydration and heat exhaustion after a trail ride over the weekend. Yet he was focused on his first NFL training camp and becoming the leader of the Bucs defense in his rookie season.

Let’s analyze some of the quotes from Thursday – mainly from Arians – and expand upon what was conveyed to the media and Bucs fans.

Really Physical Training Camp

I asked Arians how physical camp was going to be and if there would be any live tackling periods.

“Really physical – really physical,” Arians said. “We will have live tackling. That’s the only way to learn how to tackle. You have to tackle some. Are we going to tackle a lot? No. Are we going to tackle certain guys? No. But we will tackle, yes.”

Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What Arians means is that valued starters like Mike Evans, O.J. Howard and others won’t be tackled in camp. They are too valuable to lose to a training camp injury. But some of the team’s undrafted free agents and guys battling for roster spots will have to tough it out as tackling dummies in some live tackling periods.

This is a welcome change from Koetter, who ran the softest training camps I have ever seen in my 24 years of covering the Buccaneers. There were no live tackling periods like there were under legendary coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden. That will change under Arians and his old school approach.

Expectations For 2019

Arians told his players not to listen to the media projections for the Bucs this year where some have Tampa Bay winning as few as three or five games in 2019.

“Don’t listen to the noise,” Arians said. “Go to work every day. I go back to my first year in Arizona. It was five, mostly six (predicted wins). We won 10, and we had injuries, but we won games in the last two minutes. When you go back and look at the 5-11 record, there were a lot of close games. We didn’t play smart enough to win, or we missed a kick, or we had a penalty or busted assignment. It was Bucs beating Bucs. Eliminate that. It wasn’t talent. It’s just play better in the final two minutes of the half and the final two minutes of the game and they’re at least 8-8. Make a kick.”

It’s interesting that Arians felt the Bucs should have been at least 8-8 last season with the talent that is on this team. I think he’s right. This was a Bucs team that split with New Orleans and Carolina in the division, and also had a halftime lead at home against the Saints in a game that New Orleans ultimately won in the fourth quarter. The Bucs lost to the Falcons on a last-second field goal in the season finale, and both losses to Atlanta last year were by a combined seven points.

Bucs Injuries

When it came to discussing the loss of Jason Pierre-Paul to a neck injury, Arians remained optimistic that he would return by midseason, and ruled out JPP having any surgery at this point.

“I think it’s ruled out,” Arians said. “I can’t swear to the doctors, but seeing him yesterday, he was in great spirits. It’s improving. It’s making progress, and I think everything is on course. He is such a freak healer, I wouldn’t put it past him to be ready then. The doctors still say October. He’s on his original time, so no setbacks, knock on wood.”

Arians said that the Bucs have enough talented edge rushers to step up and replace Pierre-Paul, but also noted that the team’s pass rush would come from blitzing up the middle with middle linebackers White and Lavonte David, as well as the team’s safeties.

“I think [outside linebacker] Shaq Barrett is going to be outstanding,” Arians said. “I think all those guys – Carl [Nassib], Noah [Spence] – he has flourished in what his role is now. I’m anxious to see him rush the passer in pads, because he was very effective in shorts. I think the interior guys are excellent blitzers. I think here in Tampa, you traditionally only think of four-man line pass rush. That’s not who we are. It’s been here for a long time, but it’s not that way anymore.”

Bucs FS Justin Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Arians wasn’t as optimistic about the timetable for the return of free safety Justin Evans, who is recovering from offseason heel surgery. Evans was placed on injured reserve last November with a toe injury and was unavailable all offseason due to his heel injury. That’s not a good sign.

“I have no idea – no idea,” Arians said. “If he would have practiced all spring and was penciled in as a starter, I’d be concerned. But I haven’t seen him play. So I’ve seen all the other guys play, and I’m okay. If we get him back and he’s what I hope he is, that’s adding to the picture.”

Kicking Competition

Arians is a big believer in competition and said it will be a fair battle between veteran Cairo Santos and Matt Gay, the team’s fifth-round draft pick, for the team’s kicker position.

“It’s best man wins,” Arians said. “With [punter] Bradley [Pinion] being able to kick off, that part’s out of it. Matt [Gay] can kick off, but Bradley, he’s excellent at it. So, who’s going to be the most accurate guy and who’s got the distance to hit that game winner when you’re 52 (yards out) or 55, consistently?”

Arians won’t say it publicly, but the Bucs want Gay to win. He’s got a stronger leg, and that’s important, evidenced by Arians’ comment about hitting field goals from 52 or 55 yards out.

But accuracy is more important than kicking power. A 52-yard kick only counts if it goes through the uprights. Santos doesn’t have a strong leg, but he’s been accurate inside of 40 yards. If Gay can match his accuracy he’ll win the job.

Impressive Rookie Class

The Bucs’ draft class was widely panned by some in the media and the fan base back in late April, but after an eye-opening performance in the team’s OTAs and mini-camps, Tampa Bay could have several starters emerge from this draft class other than White and potentially Gay. Rookie cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean have impressed, in addition to rookie safety Mike Edwards. All three rookie DBs will challenge for starting roles in camp.

“This is probably the most mature group of rookies I’ve ever been around in my 20-something years in the NFL,” Arians said. “These guys are serious men coming to work. They’re not silly guys with a lot of money in their pocket. One of the things I think we learned in Arizona was that great talent that might be a tick immature, take the guy that’s right next to him that is mature, because these guys have to play now.”

Winston has also been impressed with the maturity displayed by the rookies during the summer.

Bucs DBs Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I just see hunger,” Winston said. “When you see hunger and not complacency from a rookie class, you know you’ve got a good thing. Those guys are coming in willing to work, and it heads with Devin White. That guy is a hard worker and he’s a great leader, so they’re going to follow his footsteps. There’s no age limit on leadership, so we definitely bring him on in, come be a [leader] day one and do what you do best. Those other guys are going to follow suit and just do their job the best they possibly can.”

White is the leader of the rookie class and is setting the tone with his own mature approach to being a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

“I think the coaching staff did a great job of hand-picking the players they wanted and looking for that certain trait,” White said. “But another thing, you know when we sit around and talk about how important it’s going to be for us to play this year, you know you’ve got to grow up early. And you know, just being in the NFL you see people who don’t do as [well], and they don’t stay with that team long. We know we want to stay with this team, so we know we’ve got to be on our best.”

When it’s all said and done, I believe a lot of the critics will be wrong about this rookie class and that White will be a star and there will be some real gems that emerge from this group. Murphy-Bunting reminds me of a young Donnie Abraham. We’ll see how this group performs when the pads come on.

Winston’s Improvement

Arians has been impressed with Winston’s improvement this offseason, especially his footwork.

“I think about 70 percent is upstairs,” Arians said. “He has improved, I think, dramatically – his footwork and stuff because he’s worked so hard at it. And that helps, because that stops that high hot one down the middle. That high hot one down the middle doesn’t have anything to do with your brain. It’s your technique. That’s usually where he gets in trouble, firing one down the middle that’s high and hot. And we’ve worked a lot, talking about second base throws rather than where a guy has to reach above his head.”

Winston agrees that his footwork has been the focus of his training this offseason as he works to limit his interceptions.

“Footwork – consistently footwork,” Winston said. “You can never get too good at footwork. I’ve got to continue to hone in on that and deliver the ball on time, and that’s it.”

Arians detailed how improper footwork from Winston could cause passes to sail high down the middle and lead to picks from safeties. That’s important because so much of Arians’ offense will be attacking linebackers, safeties and nickel cornerbacks deep down the seam rather than the deep sideline shots that Winston was instructed to take in Koetter’s offense.

Camp Will Be Loud – But With No Music

As we reported in the offseason, Arians will not have music blaring all during camp (thankfully) as was customary under former head coaches Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter. Arians is old school, and is a big believer in teaching and that’s hard to do with music possibly serving as a distraction for the players.

But camp will be loud with coaches yelling – and sometimes using profanity to emphasize a point.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Come have fun,” Arians said to Bucs fans via his press conference. “We’re going to have fun. It’s going to be different when we put the pads on. There will be a lot of hollering and screaming and there won’t be any damn music. So you’ll hear some things. You know, maybe put some earplugs on the kids.”

No music, no problem, according to Winston.

“That should inspire our fans to be louder at training camp,” Winston said. “When we make a big play, let’s hear an uproar. We’ve got to get used to that. We’ve got to get used to [fans] cheering us on when we’re making big plays. That’s going to be exciting. It’s not necessarily new. We create our own energy, and that’ll be good. The fans will be able to hear us talking jive at each other a little bit more. They won’t have to hear the music. It’s going to be fun.”

The 66-year old Arians not only sounded good on Thursday, but he also looked good. He’s lost a bunch of weight from his coaching days in Arizona from 2013-17, and is physically fit as camp begins.

“Well, I didn’t gain any weight over the summer,” Arians said. “Now I can go back on my diet now that the chef is working again, and maybe try to lose 10 or 15 before the first game. That first 25 was hard to get rid of, but I feel great. I had a great physical again, so I’m ready to roll.”