Bucs go deep for the ‘biscuit’ on same day they honor Bruce Arians

TAMPA — Sunday afternoon’s tribute to Bruce Arians hardly was confined to a brief halftime ceremony.

Each deep Tom Brady throw to Mike Evans — a connection mostly missing from the Bucs’ 2022 playbook — seemed an ode of sorts to the former Bucs coach, who formally became the 14th member of the franchise’s Ring of Honor.

“No risk it, no biscuit,” coach Todd Bowles, echoing a pass-and-catch phrase made famous by his predecessor, said following Sunday’s 30-24 triumph against the Panthers.

“We make it interesting. But obviously the big thing (is) we wanted him to go in (the Ring of Honor) on a winning note. That’s huge (considering) the legacy he left behind on this team.”

That legacy — a Super Bowl title, daring offensive approach and unparalleled racial and gender staff diversity — received the franchise’s highest individual honor when Arians, 70, became its third head coach (excluding Jon Gruden, who was removed last year) to enter the ring.

“It’s something I never dreamed about,” he said.

Even the positioning of his name — in the stadium’s northeast corner, right next to Ronde Barber’s — was poetic in its placement. As a Virginia Tech quarterback in the early 1970s, Arians roomed with Ronde and Tiki Barber’s dad, James, making him the first white Hokies player to live with a Black roommate.

“I’ve obviously watched (Ronde’s) career his whole life because I used to bounce him on my knee,” said Arians, who babysat the Barber boys. “Tiki would go to the hospital (he suffered epileptic seizures as a toddler) and we’d babysit Ronde. So yeah, it’s very, very special for me to go next to him. And he’d better get his ass in the Hall of Fame soon.”

The cornerstones of the culture he implemented upon his arrival in 2019: trust, loyalty and respect. Toss in Tom Brady the following year, and the Bucs had the greatest two-year run in franchise history: 24 regular-season wins, two playoff berths and the organization’s second world title.

Arians did it with three Black coordinators (Bowles, Byron Leftwich, Keith Armstrong) while becoming the NFL’s first head coach to have two female assistants (assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar, assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust) on a staff.

“The only thing I did on purpose was try to break down the door for women,” Arians said. “I’ve known that for a long time, that they could coach, and we tried to open that door.”

In the end, diversity was accompanied by brevity. Arians likened his three-season tenure, shortened by myriad health issues and the opportunity to have one of his staffers (Bowles) succeed him, to a midway carnival ride.

“I keep forgetting the name of that ride: You’re straight up, and all of the sudden you drop down in 15 seconds,” he said. “That was kind of like this ride was. But we got all the way to the top, and it was amazing.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.

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