TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can take a four-game lead in the NFC South if they beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
“It’s a big, big game for us, a division game on the road,” Bucs’ head coach Bruce Arians said Friday. “I know everybody wants the other story, we’re playing the Falcons. I don’t give a s*** about that.”
The other story, wide receiver Antonio Brown and safety Mike Edwards were each suspended by the NFL for three games for misrepresenting their vaccination statuses.
“Obviously we have two guys suspended,” Arians said. “The league did their due diligence. We move on. I will not address those guys for the next three weeks. They will just be working out. We will address their future at that time.”
Brown has had several incidents with off-the-field trouble in his past. In November 2020, Arians praised Brown’s behavior after signing with the team.
“He’s been a model citizen,” Arians said on Nov. 18, 2020. “If and when’s he not, we’ll move on. He knows that, our teams knows that.”
The league’s investigation found evidence that Brown brought a fake vaccination card with him to training camp. Arians is concerned that there may be incidents like this across the league.
“We’ve done everything. There’s a lot more to the story. I just hope that they don’t stop looking.”
Arians also defended the way his team has handled COVID-19.
“I will say this, in the last two years, I don’t know if there has been a team better against COVID than we have been. This is a setback because of what happened. But, we have done an amazing job. We never had an outbreak in a position room. I am very happy with that part.”
