Ad Disclosure
Tampa Bay’s Bruce Arians fined after slapping own player across helmet
Published:
Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians has been $50,000 by the NFL after striking his own player across the helmet during the NFC Wild Card round of the playoffs. ESPN’s Adam Schefter announced the penalty on Wednesday.
Arians slapped the helmet of Buccaneers’ starting safety Andrew Adams. The incident occurred during Tampa Bay’s 31-15 victory over the Philadelphia to advance to the next round.
In a quote after the fine on Wednesday, Arians explained why he stepped on the field and struck Adams.
NFL fined Bucs’ HC Bruce Arians $50,000 for striking his own safety Andrew Adams.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 19, 2022
For a second, I thought Adams was going to drop Bruce Arians.
Imagine smacking a grown man in the head like that? pic.twitter.com/E2ubYq1yUq
— Will D. (@WAD1980) January 16, 2022
“No, I’ve seen enough dumb (things). You can’t pull guys out of a pile,” Arians said during a presser. “We just got a big play, great field position, and he’s trying to pull a guy out of a pile. And I was trying to knock him off that guy so he didn’t get a penalty.”
With last week’s win, Tampa Bay will now host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB