

General Background / Philosophy

This alone could be enough to turn around a tortured Bucs franchise, who have exactly zero playoff berths and three seasons above .500 in their last 11 seasons since Jon Gruden 's departure. Despite the misery and rocky waters, the Bucs have the pieces in place for a fast turnaround under a captain like Arians.

Before Pittsburgh, Arians' otherwise sterling resume received a bit of a blemish during a horrendous three year stint as the Browns OC (2001-03). In his defense, these Cleveland teams lacked any semblance of talent, and every other stop -- including his work as Peyton Manning 's QB coach and mentor from 1998-2000 -- has been nearly flawless. Outside of Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll , no current coaches can hold a candle to Arians' NFL accomplishments and longevity.

Statistically, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger put together some of the best seasons in team history, establishing a then-franchise record with 32 touchdown passes in 2007, recording a then-team record 4,328 passing yards in 2009 and registering a career-high and Steelers-record 104.1 passer rating in 2007. Roethlisberger earned his first career Pro Bowl selection in 2007 under Arians. Additionally, in 2009, the Steelers’ offense became the first team in NFL history to have a 4,000-yard passer (Roethlisberger), two 1,000-yard receivers ( Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward ) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Rashard Mendenhall) in the same season.

Prior to Indianapolis, Arians spent eight seasons with the Steelers, including five as offensive coordinator (2007-11) and three as the wide receivers coach (2004-06). During his tenure as the offensive coordinator, the Steelers had a 55-25 record, tying Green Bay for the second-best mark in the NFL during that span, while racking up three AFC North Division titles, two AFC Championships and a victory in Super Bowl XLIII over the Cardinals.

Moreover, the Colts improved from 2-14 to 11-5 in this span, marking the third highest single-season turnaround in NFL history. All together, these achievements earned Arians "Coach of the Year" awards, an honor he repeated just two years later with the Cardinals in 2014.

Arians earned this Arizona gig -- his first time every head coaching -- after piecing together a 2012 masterpiece as the interim HC with the Colts. Forced to takeover for Chuck Pagano, who was diagnosed with leukemia, Arians led the Colts to a 9-3 record (most wins ever by an interim coach) and clinched a playoff berth -- all with a rookie QB in Andrew Luck. In fact, Luck's 4,374 passing yards set the NFL record for a rookie, as did his six 300-yard passing games and seven game-winning drives.

Most recently and recognizably, Arians spent five seasons as the Cardinals head coach. Here, he compiled a solid 49-30-1 record that included two playoff berths and three 10+ win seasons. His desert-stay began in 2013, where Arians helped jump-start the NFL's 31st ranked offense (15.6 PPG) all the way to 17th (23.7); moreover, in the other two years in which Palmer was healthy, Arians' offense ranked 2nd (29.4) and 6th (26.1) in the league. Considering the Cardinals offensive ineptitude both before and since (2018 = 14.1 PPG, 32nd in NFL), Arians deserves significant credit for his offensive magic here.

Known for a personality as explosive as his offense, two-time NFL head coach of the year Bruce Arians has NFL roots as deep as any coach in the league. This sturdy offensive oak began growing in 1989, nearly 30 years ago, as the Chiefs RBs coach, spreading to a variety of locations, positions, play-calling, and eventual head honcho gigs. In this span, Arians compiled a track record that includes developing QB-greats like Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and a rookie year Andrew Luck , while also resurrecting Carson Palmer 's career. Deservedly, Arians' is now well-recognized as a QB-guru and offensive wizard.





Overall, Arians' offense has two main goals: being unpredictable, and achieving chunk plays as a result.





To accomplish this, Arians uses three key ingredients:





Formation Diversity.





Impeccable and unpredictable timing.





Aggressiveness.





Consequently, his attack is unlike any other in the league. His offense constantly stresses the defense, attacking from all angles and often putting up an avalanche points within the blink of an eye.





Though, like any bright coach, Arians will mold his offense to both his own talent and that week's opposition, let's dive into these three consistent staples a bit more.





Aggressiveness:

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When previously asked to describe his offenses, Arians' replies have included:





"We have six home runs on the play sheet every week, and we're not leaving any bullets unused."

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"No risk it, no biscuit."

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Translation: Attacking and aggressive.





Arians' offense has typically hovered around a 60% pass / 40% run ratio, with a heavy portion of the passing game including deep shots at unexpected times.





Most often, Arians will spread out the defense -- sometimes in 4 or even 5 wide WR sets. He will then use one side of the field to set up a first down opportunity, with the other side including an explosive play.





These "explosions" are achieved through a variety of intentional deep routes. This can include the standard vertical routes, such as the "go," "double post," or "deep cross." Often, these longer routes come from an unexpected position and/or part of the field, such as the slot or even out of the backfield. Perhaps, for example, he'll send multiple verticals out of a three-tight end "heavy" package.





More often, however, Arians loves to utilize double moves, oftentimes ones that have been set up on a previous play. He is a master of creating a rhythm that gets defensive backs biting, and dialing up the big play at the perfect moment.





These deep shots become even more deadly when combined with Arians'...





​ Expert, and unpredictable, timing

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As creative as Arians' is in his route designs and play calling, the when is even more important to the what​.





Arians is an expert at recognizing what most teams would call in a given down-and-distance, and then flipping this on its head. For example, often on second-and-long, coordinators will play conservatively with the goal of making third down more manageable. Arians, however will go right over the top and shoot for the end zone. He similarly will bomb teams deep when he may only need a yard or two to move the sticks, or run draws and screens when in need of 10+ yards.





Simply put, Arians has a knack for knowing which play will work perfectly at any given moment, especially if it can result in a huge gain. He gets his players in a rhythm and instills confidence as his calls time up with exactly what the defense is offering.





Carson Palmer, who experienced a late career Renaissance under Arians, stressed the importance of timing in Arians' scheme:





“It wasn’t the game plan, it was his timing,” Palmer says. “He was just on point with his calls..when he was calling certain things. When he was calling screens, we were gashing them. When he was calling [deep] shots, the shots were there. The run-game calls were spot on."

















Formation Diversity

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Unlike many playcallers, like Sean McVay who uses "11" personnel on nearly 90% of his snaps, Arians doesn't stick to a single formation. Rather, he lines up in many different sets, going from three tight end formations on first down and then spreading you in an empty back, wide open formation within the blink of an eye. The next week, defenses might see the same exact alignments, but Arians will run a completely new set of plays from the look. He firmly believes an offense that is easy to recognize is easy to defend, and uses variance as much as any NFL play caller to keep defenses uneasy and unprepared.





Once again, Palmer emphasized the importance of diversity to this scheme, noting:





“Yeah, I think that’s what makes him hard to defend and makes us hard to defend...There aren’t a bunch of tendencies that you see on film where you know a certain play’s coming. He’s very, very careful in designing plays and designing a game plan with what’s on film...He always tries to keep you guessing. One week it will be a whole bunch of runs out of one formation. The next week it’ll be all passes. So he makes it really tough to find a tendency in what he’s doing."





Essentially, the central tendency of Arians' offense? Not having a central tendency.



