(Photo by Icon Sportswire/Getty Images)
There's a whole lot of Steelers connections on the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, who defeated the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Fla. last night.
Buccaneers' head coach Bruce Arians won two Super Bowls with the Steelers (2005, 2008), the first one as a wide receivers coach and the second one as the offensive coordinator. He now is a Super Bowl champion as a head coach after blowing out the Chiefs. Arians has three former Steelers' players on his coaching staff -- offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, offensive assistant Antwaan Randle El and outside linebackers coach Larry Foote, all of who played with the Steelers during Arians' tenure with the organization.
Arians also has several other assistants on his staff who have Steeler ties. Assistant head coach/run game coordinator Harold Goodwin, who was the offensive line coach and quality control coordinator with the Steelers from 2007-2011; offensive consultant Tom Moore, who was the Steelers' wide receivers coach from 1977-1982 and first offensive coordinator in franchise history from 1983-1989. Moore was the offensive coordinator for the Colts from 1998-2008 and Bruce Arians was the quarterbacks coach in Indianapolis from 1998-2000 -- the early years of Peyton Manning. Defensive/special teams assistant Cody Grimm doesn't have a direct connection to the Steelers, but his dad Russ Grimm was the Steelers' offensive line coach from 2001-2006 and worked with Arians for three years when he was the wide receivers coach in Pittsburgh before becoming offensive coordinator from 2007-2011.
Wide receiver Antonio Brown, defensive tackle Steve McLendon, cornerback Ross Cockrell and center A.J. Shipley, who was on injured reserve, are the former Steelers' players on the Buccaneers. After being out of the league for most of the 2019 season and half of the 2020 season due to off the field issues, Brown joined the Buccaneers in early November and ended the season as a Super Bowl champion, along with scoring a touchdown in the Big Game.
The Cardinals used to be known as "Pittsburgh West" and I guess now you could look at the Buccaneers as "Pittsburgh South" with how many connections they have to the Steelers. A lot of that has to do with Arians, who put together an incredible staff together in Tampa Bay. Leftwich did a phenomenal job as the team's offensive coordinator and played to Tom Brady's strengths. The same could be said for defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who limited an explosive Chiefs' offense led by Patrick Mahomes to just nine points in the Super Bowl.
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