Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach is under investigation for his role in a large brawl between several star players during Sunday afternoon’s game between the Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints after he was on the sideline and seemed to be instigating the bad blood between the two teams.
Arians is no longer a coach with the team after retiring following the 2021-22 season. He now holds the executive position of senior adviser to the General Manager, which is not an on-field position leading to much speculation as to why he was on the field during Sunday’s game in the first place.
Apparently, Arians had a legitimate reason for being on the sideline along with general manager Jason Licht: there was no room available in the booth.
“Interesting — [Buccaneers head coach Todd] Bowles said the reason Bruce Arians and Jason Licht were on the sidelines for Saints game on Sunday was that Saints didn’t give the Bucs a booth upstairs for their personnel, so that left them on the sidelines,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers reporter Greg Auman said on Twitter.
This explanation makes sense, but even if there was reason for Arians to be in the sideline, it does not excuse any role he played in Sunday’s brawl.