No, not Star Wars! On any news source you care to look at, the song is the same. The repeating soundtrack is the Bruce Arians band playing their new hit “We’re Going To Be Great on Offense.” I don’t blame them, either! We’re all like kids on Christmas morning. We have a shiny new toy, and holy Mackinov, we are going to play with it.
But that isn’t the whole story about the new staff in Tampa—oh no. Gather a room full of Bucs fans and ask them what they associate Buccaneer football with, the majority will respond, “Defense!” This part of the game has always been the benchmark for a lot of fans, probably another reason that fans have felt so heartbroken and frustrated at recent performances from that unit. With the new head coach comes a new staff, and one of those new faces is Todd Bowles, who will operate as defensive coordinator as he did in 2013-2014 under Bruce Arians.
So what should fans expect from the new man calling the defense? The evidence is out there, and looking at the film and listening to the players who played under Bowles, the signs are very positive. During 2013 and 2014 Bowles took the shackles of his defense and created an aggressive scheme that fit the players he had instead of forcing players into a scheme. Ranking in the top half of the league for many crucial statistics, the Cardinals’ defense, led by Todd Bowles, was exciting to watch. I know fans have been waiting a long time to be proud of a Buccaneers defense.
