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Bruce Arians retired as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the start of the 2022 NFL season. But it appears Arians doesn’t really know what to do with himself during this whole “retirement” thing. Arians has often been seen around the Buccaneers team, both at practices and during games.
One of those appearances, at a Week 2 game between the Bucs and New Orleans Saints in the Superdome, caused a little bit of a fracas. Arians was on the sideline for the showdown between the two NFC South rivals. The game had already been chippy before Arians opted to involve himself in the matter, chirping at Saints’ Pro Bowl defensive back Marshon Lattimore. Moments later, Lattimore and Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans sparked an all-out brawl between the teams.
Both Evans and Lattimore were suspended for sparking the fracas. A New Orleans restaurant even went to the drastic measure of banning Evans from its facility for life. Many wondered what it was that Arians said to Lattimore to cause the chaos. Now we know.
Bruce Arians Reveals The Relatively Innocuous Comments That Sparked A Brawl Between The Saints And Bucs
Arians sat down with Dan Pompei of The Athletic recently to discuss his life since retirement. Among the many topics discussed, Pompei brought up the infamous exchange with Lattimore. Arians then admitted that he was jawing with the Saints star, but says that the conversation was actually pretty benign.
Arians thought Lattimore held Bucs wide receiver Scotty Miller on the preceding play.
“It was a bad call and I was chewing out the referee like I was chewing him out the first three quarters,” Arians says. “It wasn’t like nothing new. Then Marshon came by. I told him he was holding. He said he thought the pass was uncatchable. Bulls—. And then the melee started.” – via The Athletic
So there it is. The big reveal. It seems like a pretty silly reason for Lattimore to get fired up about. But the Saints did end up losing the game, 20-10. So maybe he was just already angry about having to hold the L.