Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians is catching some heat after a video of him hitting Andrew Adams’ helmet spread like wildfire on Twitter.
Bruce Arians isn’t exactly making headlines for good reasons right now. There’s a bit of controversy surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach after he was spotted on the sideline swatting at his own player’s helmet during the Wild Card game between Tampa Bay and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The video itself raises a long list of questions and has drawn plenty of attention. Now, Shannon Sharpe is responding to the incident and is calling out Arians for his actions.
During a segment of FS1’s Undisputed, Sharpe recalled a memory that involved a family member “bumping [him] on the head” until Sharpe’s grandfather intervened and protected the then-6-year-old Sharpe from being hit any further.
According to Sharpe, that left a significant impression on him and he’s refused to hit anyone on their head.
And if Arians had tried to hit Sharpe on the head? Well…
“BA would have had problems with Shannon Sharpe if he’d done that to me, Skip,” Sharpe explained. “I’m telling you, I would’ve punched BA. You can’t do that. I thought it was disrespectful. My response to him would have been justified.”
Buccaneers: Shannon Sharpe sounds off on Bruce Arians for hitting Andrew Adams’ helmet
Sharpe continued on, explaining how there wasn’t even remotely an ethical issue with responding to Arians’ hit with a hit.
“Because he would’ve had no regret, no remorse for what he did, I, in turn, would’ve had no regret punching him, shoving his you know what to the ground, letting him know ‘I’m not your child,’” Sharpe said.
It’s hard not to side with Sharpe on this one.
There’s exactly zero percent of that video of Arians that makes him look in control of his emotions or aware of what’s going on with his team. The optics of this scenario do not reflect well on Tampa Bay’s head coach.
While he may have been trying to keep Andrew Adams, the player who was wearing the helmet Arians smacked, out of a situation that would have resulted in a penalty, his actions crossed a line for many.