Bruce Arians fined $50,000 for striking Buccaneers player during wild card win over Eagles, per report
Wed, Jan 19, 2022
NFL News (AP)
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians was fined $50,000 after making contact with Tampa Bay safety Andrew Adams during the team's wild card win over the Eagles, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Arians slapped Adams' helmet during Tampa Bay's 31-15 win on Sunday.
Arians defended his actions on Monday, saying that was trying to prevent Adams from committing a penalty. Arians apparently thought that Adams was going to try to pull Eagles players off the pile following a muffed punt by Philadelphia wideout Jalen Reagor.
"I've seen enough dumb," Arians said, via the Tampa Bay Times. "You can't pull guys out of out of pile. We just got a big play, great field position and he's trying to pull a guy out of the pile and I was trying to knock him off that guy so he didn't get a penalty."
ICYMI: Bruce Arians hits Andrew Adams with a left...#PHIvsTB #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/a8r8yx1nCo
- SportsGridTV (@SportsGridTV) January 16, 2022
Arians recently made headlines for his decision to release Antonio Brown during the Buccaneers' late-season win over the New York Jets. Brown, stating his ankle injury, said that he was too injured to enter the game, which led to his release. Arians said Brown alluded to his lack of involvement in the offense as his reasoning for not going back into the game, which led to Arians asking Brown to leave the sideline.
Distractions aside, Arians and the Buccaneers are three wins away from becoming the ninth team in NFL history to win back-to-back Super Bowls and the first since the 2003-04 Patriots. The Bucs will host the Rams this weekend in the NFL divisional round.
