Even if this Super Bowl were not being contested during a pandemic, Jake Arrieta Jersey if the news conferences in advance were the typical series of rugby-style scrums and not the orderly, its-your-turn-now Zoom calls, the Buccaneers interviews with reporters covering the game would look different than those from every other year involving every other team that ever reached this stage.

Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong make Tampa the first team ever with African Americans holding all three of those positions to advance to the Super Bowl. More than half of the coaches on coach Bruce Arians staff are minorities. They also have a woman, Lori Locust, serving as a sistant defensive line coach, and Maral Javadifar a sists in the strength and conditioning program.

I think it means a lot, especially with, just like, the current climate of the country, star receiver Chris Godwin told Sporting News. But I should say at the same time, Im not surprised. Just being around BA for two years now, Im not surprised at all that this is the type of staff that hed put together. And its so cool that weve been able to have this succe s because a lot of the people on our staff theyre so talented, theyre so smart and so capable.

MORE:

It was inevitable that race would be part of the discu sion about this Super Bowl given the circumstances in the country and in the NFL. Nearly 22 percent of the leagues teams had openings for a head coach in this offseason, but only the Texans hired an African American candidate to fill their vacancy.

Eric Bienemy, offensive coordinator for the Chiefs, interviewed for six of the seven jobs available and got none of them. The Bengals have won nine AFC division championships in 51 years since the merger; Marvin Lewis earned four of those in 16 seasons. But he didnt get a job, either, though he interviewed with multiple teams. With Anthony Lynn dismi sed by the Chargers and the Texans bringing in David Culley, the NFL still has only three Black head coaches.

So many of the coaches hired over the past three offseasons have fit into the Bryce Harper Jersey category of offensive mastermind. So if teams are going to continue hiring according to whatever seems like the next hot trend, perhaps the duel between Bienemy and Leftwich will have resonance next January.

Hopefully one day its not such a big thing that two AfricanAmerican offensive coordinators Tug McGraw Jersey are in the Super Bowl, Leftwich said. But it is still, right now.

There are reasons why this matters, even beyond the basic sense of justice for minority candidates. There is an abundance of minority players in the league nearly 70 percent but few can look at their head coaches and see a sense of representation.

Leftwich, Bucs inside linebackers coach Larry Foote and offensive a sistant Antwaan Randle-El all played for the Steelers when Arians was the teams offensive coordinator from 2007 to 2011. Arians became familiar with their leadership skills and knowledge of the game during those years. It also mattered, though, that they could see themselves having a future in coaching while playing under Mike Tomlin, who is the winningest African American coach in the leagues history.

When he joined our staff, he was probably 31-32 years old at the time. Coming from a similar background, I started thinking, Man, I could be a coach in this league, Foote told Sporting News. He started putting that in my ear through the years, and I kind of like started following after him for a little bit. The older I got, BA offered me the job, I just took it and ran with it.

We know throughout the years, this league is lacking in that area. The media is doing a great job, JT Realmuto Jersey keep on putting the pre sure on them. And hopefully you start seeing guys of color getting more opportunities.

MORE:

Foote said he was pleased to see hires such as Martin Mayhew as general manager of the Washington Football Team, Brad Holmes in the same position with the Lions and Terry Fontenot with the Falcons.

I think its going to start there. Then more coordinators, Foote told SN. The good offensive coordinators have been quarterbacks. Now the quarterback thing is getting knocked down. So when these guys start retiring, youll start seeing them be coordinators. And youll see the offensive side catch up with the defensive side, in my opinion.

Arians told reporters Monday that having to wait so long for his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach made him want to provide opportunities to others who might be overlooked. He was head coach at Temple in his early 30s, Scott Kingery Jersey but after moving to the NFL in 1989 he waited more than two decades for his first chance to be a head coach and that only developed on an interim basis with the Colts, in 2012 when Arians was just approaching his 60th birthday, because Chuck Pagano became ill with leukemia.

I was a winning Super Bowl offensive coordinator and didnt even get a phone call, Arians said. So the lack of opportunity, I think, has made me want to give more opportunities to more people.

Leftwich said Arians began working on him to consider a coaching future all the way back when they were together in Pittsburgh and helped win Super Bowl 43 which, coincidentally, was the most recent played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where the Chiefs-Bucs game will be contested Sunday evening. Leftwich was Ben Roethlisbergers primary backup that season, and again when Pittsburgh returned to the Super Bowl in 2010.

Although his promising playing career was constantly disrupted by injuries, Leftwich did earn more than $27 million in a decade. He was content to work on his golf game for a while after leaving those bruises and broken bones and surgeries behind. Arians never relented, though, and the Cardinals coach convinced Leftwich to take an intern position in Dave Cash Jersey 2016. Le s than a year later, he was hired to be quarterbacks coach. He was promoted to interim OC in October 2018 by Steve Wilks, who succeeded Arians after his decision to retire.

BA always wanted me to coach, and it was just something I just wasnt ready to do. I needed to get away, Leftwich said. I needed to see what the rest of the world was about. Youve got to understand: Youre in team meetings and in football meetings for almost all my life, so it was an opportunity for me to just be a civilian.

Now, during the proce s, I always talked football. Football is my life. Anybody that knows me knows how I feel about football. Me and BA would talk; I would tell him what I would see through the TV. I had an opportunity to talk to Ben, watching the Steelers play and talk to Ben about certain things. I never really g