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Bruce Arians Slaps Andrew Adams' Helmet - Thoughts? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Joe Bryant
- Start date
simsarge
Footballguy
If you're a coach you don't slap, punch, kick etc a player. Period. Midgets, JV, HS, College or Pro. If you want to drag him out of the pile and give him an vehement earful or a benching that's one thing.
You're a coach, a leader and a mentor. If you can't control the your emotions better than that, you shouldn't be any of those things.
You're a coach, a leader and a mentor. If you can't control the your emotions better than that, you shouldn't be any of those things.
Phil Elliott
Footballguy
Big nothing burger. Looked like it was more of a hand sliding across the helmet. As someone said previously, just getting players attention. It did look like Arians kind of backed off after the "slap"...like he did something wrong. Adams just pushes Arians away and ignores Arians.
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facook
Footballguy
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Courtjester
The Town Drunk
And if Adams had any class, he would offer to help pay the fine for him.
He was about to commit a penalty that would have cost the Bucs 15 yards and really hurt his team, had not Arians intervened.
Todem
Footballguy
Look - I voted - not an issue.
But, the NFL has an image issue, and coach hitting player - that's an image problem as much as anything. If this were any other employer, and a supervisor struck an employee - it would be instant dismissal. NFL is not "any" employer, but it also can't do nothing here. On the face of it $50k seems like a lot, but this amounts to about a 2-day fine for Arians. Its not going to affect his lifestyle.
But, the NFL has an image issue, and coach hitting player - that's an image problem as much as anything. If this were any other employer, and a supervisor struck an employee - it would be instant dismissal. NFL is not "any" employer, but it also can't do nothing here. On the face of it $50k seems like a lot, but this amounts to about a 2-day fine for Arians. Its not going to affect his lifestyle.
To me this goes back to the other JB thread about intent associated with Merry Christmas. The intent of Arians was not to injure and it was not a negative "punishment" so to speak. The intent was to gain the players attention and stop him from doing something that would hurt the team. In the moment it may have been the only way to get that attention and was done with that intent.
There are many actions that occur in sports that would never happen in any other work environment and therefore cannot be compared. For example, forcibly grabbing another player to prevent them from escalating a situation that is getting out of hand. It happens all the time but if you tried to do that in any other work place it would be assault and you would be fired immediately.
Social media will blow this out of proportion and make a mountain out of a mole hill because that is what the world has come to. The NFL fining Arians is evidence of that. This was nothing of consequence in any way yet the NFL was prompted to fine him because of how social media blew it up. It's unfortunate that people no longer have the ability to see what the context (intent) is and give the benefit of the doubt.
There are many actions that occur in sports that would never happen in any other work environment and therefore cannot be compared. For example, forcibly grabbing another player to prevent them from escalating a situation that is getting out of hand. It happens all the time but if you tried to do that in any other work place it would be assault and you would be fired immediately.
Social media will blow this out of proportion and make a mountain out of a mole hill because that is what the world has come to. The NFL fining Arians is evidence of that. This was nothing of consequence in any way yet the NFL was prompted to fine him because of how social media blew it up. It's unfortunate that people no longer have the ability to see what the context (intent) is and give the benefit of the doubt.
belljr
Footballguy
simsarge
Footballguy
Ariens' rationale doesn't justify the intervention method.
What's the difference between swiping at a player in the game and kicking one in practice?
I can think of several, for starters: part of the body that is hit/kicked, the amount of force one delivers, the equipment worn where the person is struck, and likelihood of injury.
If you slap one's helmet, realistically you can only apply so much force. You can't (or would be foolish to) smack somebody's helmet with a closed fist, so a slap is the most forceful thing you can do and realistically you can only apply so much force slapping someone's helmet. The player is wearing a helmet which also provides protection. The likelihood of causing injury is super low because of all of those things. Clearly a slap across a bare face would be different because they don't have the same equipment to protect them and you can apply more force with greater chance of injury. Kicking somebody can apply lots of force and depending on where you kick, the person may have little to know protection.
I'm not saying that slapping somebody's helmet is never a big deal, but I think you have to look at the totality of the circumstances. In this case, this is much ado about nothing. But social media doesn't really lend itself to nuance, so you just get a bunch of people riled up one way or the other.
johnnycakes
Footballguy
The NFL thought it was worth $50k
https://theathletic.com/news/bucs-coach-bruce-arians-fined-50000-for-slapping-s-andrew-adams-helmet/Q0kSe7PRcQyi/
https://theathletic.com/news/bucs-coach-bruce-arians-fined-50000-for-slapping-s-andrew-adams-helmet/Q0kSe7PRcQyi/
What if his intervention method netted the player a ring and Super Bowl winners check?
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Adams was already backing up. If he was trying to prevent further escalation he could have simply walked in front of him. This looked to me more like a "cut it out, dumb###" slap. Which is just a bad look, no matter how you spin it.
WDIK2
Footballguy
I thought it was cringe-worthy so voted, "Not good. But relax"
Watching it again I don't think Arians was trying to slap him in the helmet as much as he was trying to push him in a "knock it off #######" kind of way.
Still cringe-worthy, but everyone needs to chill about a lot of things.
Watching it again I don't think Arians was trying to slap him in the helmet as much as he was trying to push him in a "knock it off #######" kind of way.
Still cringe-worthy, but everyone needs to chill about a lot of things.
jhib
Footballguy
That kind of "get your head out of your ###" slap to the helmet was always just part of the game way back when I played in high school. It never hurt or anything. Players slapped each other in the helmet to pump each other up, and sometimes coaches joined in with that, too.
I'd rather get a quick slap to the helmet than be pushed, especially with other bodies around. Pushing can be more dangerous.
I'd rather get a quick slap to the helmet than be pushed, especially with other bodies around. Pushing can be more dangerous.
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BobbyLayne
Footballguy
$50K isn’t chump change
OTOH it’s equivalent to a $500 fine for someone making $80K
simsarge
Footballguy
BLUF-he was dead wrong and badly so.
The coach slapping was just for financial gain? Pretty sure he didn't have Adams' Super Bowl paycheck in mind at all.
Besides, there's No way of making that determination. Would he have gotten penalized? Maybe, but who knows? Would the penalty have changed the outcome? Maybe, but who knows?
Ariens' excuse/reasoning and whether Adams was wearing a helmet or not doesn't change what he did. Ariens' clearly lost his temper trying to keep from effing up his team's advantage.
Everybody wants the high intensity, do or die, in it to win it coach. Ariens' is one of these guys. If I'm GM'ing a team, I'm backing up the Brinks truck to get him on my side of the field. But what he did was wrong in the clearest sense. The 50K was a public shot over the bow by the NFL to save face.
NFL Coaches are arguably the crem de le crem of leaders. There probably isn't a harder job, that's not military or political going. And there probably isn't too many politicians (POTUS aside) & generals with as much public scrutiny as them. But whacking a guy upside the head isn't how you get it done in today's world.
Lombardi probably drop kicked many a screw-up and has the pinnacle of trophys named after him. But if he had dawdled onto the field and whacked a kid circa 2022, he might not have turned into the Football demi-God he is today.
2Squirrels1Nut
Footballguy
I was thinking about this thread and it bothers me. Not because of what happened, but when there is truly abuse, it will be defended by some. The "outrage" at this incident will be used as an example and part of their defense pointing to how uninformed, dramatic and hypersensitive some people are. That it's "cancel culture" or whatever the buzz phrase of the day is.
As a former athlete, this is all part of the game. He didn't hit him with an object or swing at him with a closed fist. I guess it's only a matter of time before people ask if it's assault or even sexual assault when a MLB coach slaps the bottom of a player that just hit a big HR.
As a former athlete, this is all part of the game. He didn't hit him with an object or swing at him with a closed fist. I guess it's only a matter of time before people ask if it's assault or even sexual assault when a MLB coach slaps the bottom of a player that just hit a big HR.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
There must have been more to this story than what was in that short clip. This makes no sense at all otherwise.
WDIK2
Footballguy
Some public "outrage." The NFL closely monitors public perception and what is being said. They determined they needed to do something even if it amounts to a drop in the bucket for a NFL coach.
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