Bruce Arians: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 'Can Do Anything' They Want Following Win
Throughout the course of the season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach Bruce Arians has been asked by the media if his team had found its identity.
After 12 weeks of football and losing three of their last four, Tampa Bay still hadn't really found it. This week, however, was different. As quarterback Tom Brady threw two touchdowns, running back Ronald Jones rushed for another, and Bucs' defensive line recorded six sacks, Tampa Bay won 26-14 over the Minnesota Vikings.
"When asked early this week about our identity, I think we just showed our identity. We can do any damn thing we want to do," Arians said Sunday after the 12-point win.
Getting back into the win column is huge for Tampa Bay, who now sits alone at sixth place in the NFC playoff race at 8-5 overall. The Vikings fell to 6-7 and moved down to eighth place in the NFC, out of the playoffs for now.
“We got the tiebreaker on these guys," Arians said about Minnesota. "This is a good football team – they’re going to win some games down the stretch. We’re [taking it] one day at a time – that’s what I just told the guys."
Brady showed that he can still complete deep passes, hitting wide receiver Scotty Miller midway through the second quarter on a 48-yard touchdown pass. The veteran quarterback threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
“Winning in the NFL is tough," Brady said. "I’ve been doing this for a long time, there’s no easy games. Every one is a battle and this is a team that’s won four-of-five [games] or five-of-six. They’ve been in a lot of games and [are] very competitive. They’ve got some great players on offense, some really dynamic players on defense, and it was good to just get a win."
Bucs' running back LeSean McCoy was able to contribute for the first time in weeks on offense rushing for 32 yards on just four carries. McCoy pulled back the curtain and explained the team's mindset following the win.
"It can be an ugly win, a blowout, whatever it is we need to get a [win], that’s the mindset," McCoy said. "We have that playoff attitude and mindset right now, and we know that the time is now if we want to get a shot [at the Superbowl]. The biggest thing is just getting there, that’s it."
Arians stressed how important it was for the Bucs to win coming off of a bye week, after losing two straight heading into the break.
“It’s huge. We had to do this – it was a big game for us," Arians said. "Guys did their job [during the Bye Week]. They rested, they took care of the virus, we came back clean and healthy and it showed up today."
