At one point last season, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians disputed that his players were dropping too many passes. On Wednesday, he made no such argument.
Commenting on the team’s joint practice with the Titans, Arians was generally pleased. But then he added this: “I know one thing – we dropped way too many damn passes. We have to stop that.”
Why is it happening?
“They dropped it,” Arian said. “Catch it. Shit, [there] ain’t no excuse. They’re perfectly thrown balls -- you catch the damn thing.”
Arians later was asked if the drops are concerning for him.
“If it’s Mike [Evans] or Chris [Godwin] or Gronk, no,” Arians said. “But if it’s young players, yes. Maybe the lights are too big. We’ll go back and evaluate it but way too many drops.”
Arians is also in midseason form when it comes to calling out quarterback Tom Brady. Coach, how did Brady look in the live practice period against the Titans on Wednesday?
“I didn’t think he was very sharp,” Arians said. “Our third-down percentage I think was really poor in that one. We took some shots downfield on first down [and] guys were open. He made some really good throws that were dropped, too. We’ll grade the tape, but I didn’t come off the field saying he wowed everybody.”
There’s clearly a method to the coach’s candid approach. And since it won a Super Bowl last year, there’s no reason to seriously question it.