Unexpected Person Could Face Discipline From Buccaneers-Saints Week 2 Fight

Fireworks tend to fly when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints meet. Week 2 gave us a perfect example of that when Bucs wideout Mike Evans and Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore got into a scuffle, leading to a bench-clearing brawl as well as a one-game suspension for the former.

While Evans was the only player suspended, he isn't the only individual potentially facing discipline. In what's quite the plot twist, ProFootballTalk reports that Bucs senior football consultant and former head coach Bruce Arians is also being investigated for his involvement in the brawl.

Per source, the NFL is working on addressing all things related to the Bucs-Saints brawl on Sunday, including the involvement of "retired" Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians from the sideline.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 19, 2022

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News

The incident occurred when Evans shoved Lattimore after he was convinced that the veteran CB got physical with the Bucs' Tom Brady and Leonard Fournette. Arians could be seen talking to Lattimore before the play, leaving fans wondering A) what he said and B) why he was even on the sidelines in the first place.

It turns out that Arians had a valid reason to be that close to the action. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles revealed on Monday that Arians was on the sidelines because the Saints didn't leave any room in the booth for Tampa Bay's personnel, according to The Athletic's Greg Auman.

Interesting -- 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.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 19, 2022

Arians' retirement announcement earlier this year caught many by surprise, causing the rumor mill to focus on a potential rift between the former coach and Brady. Perhaps being so close to the sidelines awoke a fire in Arians regarding a job that he wasn't ready to move on from yet.

Nevertheless, there was no legitimate reason for Arians to get into it with Lattimore. Even if the 69-year-old was sticking up for his organization and its players, he should leave Bowles and the rest of the coaching staff to settle those situations.

Packers vs Buccaneers Week 3

Whether or not Arians is disciplined, the Bucs turn their focus to a massive Week 3 matchup with the Green Bay Packers. For now, Tampa Bay comes in as the 2.5-point home favorite over Green Bay on FanDuel Sportsbook.

SIGN UP NOW. Bet $5+ And Get $150 In Free Bets. dark

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.