Bruce Arians addresses hitting player in the helmet during Wild Card game
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians responded to questions about his decision to hit the helmet of Bucs safety Andrew Adams during Sunday’s game.
Buccaneers head coach was looking out for Andrew Adams on Sunday, hitting his helmet and pushing him backwards with an elbow as Adams seemed poised to pull a penalty.
https://twitter.com/SportsGrid/status/1482811314468646912
That’s the explanation Arians gave after he was questioned about the viral moment that was caught during Sunday’s broadcast.
Arians on him slapping safety Andrew Adams in the helmet during Sunday's game: "You can't pull guys out of a pile. I was trying to knock him off that guy so we didn't get a penalty."
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) January 17, 2022
“You can’t pull guys out of a pile,” Arians explained, indicating that his actions were a way of getting Adams’ attention and keeping him away from a fight. “I was trying to knock him off that guy so we didn’t get a penalty.”
I asked Bruce Arians why he briefly swiped his hand at Andrew Adams’ helmet after the Eagles’ muffed punt. Adams was trying to pull Eagles players off the pile, which could be a penalty. “Yeah, that was it,” Arians said.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 16, 2022
Bruce Arians addresses helmet hit controversy with Andrew Adams
While Arians could have simply been trying to get Adams’ attention and keep him away from a fight, the optics left many in the NFL world critical of Arians’ movement. Skip Bayless said it was “out of bounds”, while Mike Florio drew a parallel between Arians and Urban Meyer.
Bruce Arians is old school and respected as a players' coach. But running onto the field to smack Anthony Adams on the helmet for pulling an Eagle off the pile is just ... out of bounds. There's a better and equally effective way to drive home that point.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 16, 2022
Assaultpic.twitter.com/HOTsDg2Ds9
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 16, 2022
Antonio Brown’s lawyer Sean Burstyn also chimed in, comparing Arians’ helmet hit to corporal punishment.
Physical punishment is not acceptable in schools, the military, or prisons.
— Sean Burstyn (@seanburstyn) January 17, 2022
Why’s it acceptable here?
That coach wasn’t preventing a player from drawing a penalty. He was hitting him after the fact.
Players are people, not property. Treat them with dignity and respect. https://t.co/ymRpIXXx7S
Even the way the elbow is described as a “left hook” and the helmet hit is described as a “smack” characterizes Arians’ actions as painful and violent. Bruce Arians is 69 years old, has a torn Achilles, and indicated that he was desperately trying to get Adams’ attention before he lost a crucial safety to an unnecessary penalty.
While a far cry from Meyer’s spiteful kick, whether or not a coach should ever touch a player is a subjective debate, and seeing Arians hit a player’s helmet on live television was certainly jarring for those watching at home.
However, it doesn’t seem that Arians has anything against Adams, as he complimented the veteran safety for being a “safety net” when the Bucs added him to the practice squad in September.
#Bucs HC Bruce Arians on having a familiar face in S Andrew Adams back to the team on the practice squad. pic.twitter.com/FryKFwBZDT
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) September 2, 2021
Indeed, Adams has been a safety net for a Buccaneers team grappling with significant injuries.
Next. 3 things Bucs need to fix before playing a real football team. dark