Bruce Arians does with Buccaneers what he hoped to do with Cardinals
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Sunday with a 31-26 road win over the No. 1-seeded Green Bay Packers. As a result, the Bucs become the first team in NFL history to play in the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Super Bowl LV, of course, is being played in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, the Bucs’ home stadium.
Bruce Arians, the Bucs’ head coach, makes it to his first Super Bowl in that role. It isn’t the first time he had the chance to have his team host the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Arians coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2013-2017. They had a real shot in 2014 to do what the Bucs are doing this year.
The Cardinals started the 2014 season 9-1 and looked like they were on their way to winning it all. However, starting quarterback Carson Palmer tore his ACL against the Rams and then backup Drew Stantoninjured his knee in the team’s second game against the Rams.
A 9-1 started ended with a 11-5 record and Ryan Lindley as the starting quarterback. They were bumped from the playoffs in the first round buy the Carolina Panthers.
That 2014 season became one of the biggest “what ifs” in Cardinals history. Had Palmer stayed healthy, they had the offense and the defense to win it all. They could have played the Super Bowl on their home field.
They did not and now Arians is doing with the Bucs what we hoped he could do with the Cardinals.
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