Tag: Jimmie Giles

Six great Bucs players of the ‘creamsicle’ era

In honor of Tampa Bay’s return to the creamiscles on Sunday, here are some of the best players of the creamsicle era in Tampa Bay from 1976 to 1996:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bringing out their throwback “creamsicle” uniforms on Sunday, and they’ll be looking to win in a uniform that doesn’t have a whole lot of history of seeing many.

The orange and white era of Bucs history is far more often dire than not, but that doesn’t mean that every player on those teams was bad. There were actually quite a few contributors who donned a helmet with Bucco Bruce on the side, with some of them earning a spot in the Bucs’ Ring of Honor and beyond to the Hall of Fame.

In honor of the Bucs wearing those uniforms against the Lions on Sunday, we compiled (in no particular order) six great Buccaneers players from the “creamsicle” era of Tampa Bay football:

Jimmie Giles believes Bruce Arians is just ‘taking the heat off Tom Brady’

The former Buccaneers great is backing up Bruce Arians’ method of deflecting the media.

It’s hard to distinguish between real and fake tension amongst NFL players and coaches.

Speculation constantly stirs up and the only ones to really know the frustrations between a team is the people in the locker room. There was reported drama between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for nearly a decade, but they still worked together on a daily basis. Rumors are coming out that Brady and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians have some issues, but those are just rumors.

The Buccaneers are 7-5 and trending downward after losing three of the last four games they played. It’s been directly pinned on Brady and Arians — one has to be in the wrong, right?

Former Buccaneers three-time Pro Bowler tight end Jimmie Giles stepped in and gave his opinion. He believes Arians is taking the brunt of the attention and keeping it off his players.

“Everybody’s getting on Coach about getting on Tom Brady, right?” Giles said on ‘The Eye Test for Two’ podcast. “Ever thought that Coach might be doing that for a reason?

“He’s taking the heat off Tom Brady,” Giles said, “because if he didn’t take the heat they would go after Tom Brady. And he’s the kind of coach who’s going to get on whoever to make his team better. If everybody sees that Coach can get on Tom Brady, that means if you don’t do your job, he’s going to get on you, too.”

Arians oftentimes used Brady as the scapegoat during this rough stretch, but Giles believes it’s just strategic.

“He’s taking the heat off Tom and putting it on himself,” he said. “That’s a mark of a good coach. (He) knows exactly what he’s doing: Taking the heat off his team and putting it on himself.”

Whatever it is, the Buccaneers have high expectations and a Super Bowl run isn’t looking too optimistic at the moment.

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