The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have played three prime-time games this season. In none of them has Bruce Arians’ team played freshly.
With their fourth night game on tap next Monday against the Los Angeles Rams, the veteran coach will switch up the end-of-week practice plan for any expectations of getting his players’ body checks in-tune with the late start.
“We’ve got to try something because we’ve had really, really poor starts in night ballgames,” Arians said. “We’re going to try practicing at that game time [on] Friday and Saturday night [and] do some more stuff, actually, Monday morning than we’ve been doing. We’ve got to try something, so luckily we have an indoor facility and we can work at night. We’re going to do that and hopefully get a better result to start a ballgame at night.”
The Bucs’ three prime time games so far:
Thursday night, Oct. 8, at Soldier Field, a 20-19 misfortune to the Chicago Bears. Tampa held a 10-0 first-quarter lead yet fell behind before halftime, and at last lost as Tom Brady failed to remember it was fourth down on the last drive.
Monday night, Nov. 2, at MetLife Stadium, a 25-23 success over the New York Giants. The Bucs followed 14-6 at halftime and scarcely hung-on to beat the then-1-win Giants, who missed a two-point attempt toward tie the game.
Sunday night, Nov. 8, at home, a 38-3 misfortune to the New Orleans Saints. It was a wire-to-wire embarrassment for Tampa.
With Monday the Bucs’ last planned night game of the regular season, Arians is doing whatever he can to help guarantee it’s superior to the past three trips under the lights.
