How Did Bruce Arians Tear His Achilles? Buccaneers Coach Dealing With Painful Injury In Playoffs – Sporting News

The Buccaneers roster is pretty banged up. That includes Bruce Arians.

While Tampa Bay is navigating through several injuries, the team’s head coach isn’t protected from the same unfortunate fate: Arians is currently dealing with a leg injury. Thankfully, that hasn’t kept him off the sidelines entirely.

Viewers that have tuned in to the Buccaneers have noticed that Arians has been walking with a noticable limp, which includes an ice pack strapped to the back of one of his legs. That’s because he’s dealing with a partially torn Achilles tendon.

Here’s how it happened:

How did Bruce Arians tear his Achilles?

While some head coaches in the past have sustained injuries with 250-pound NFL players slamming into them along the sideline, Arians hurt himself in a much different way: While trying to keep himself in shape.

In early December, Arians revealed he was having difficulty walking on an inflamed Achilles tendon in his right leg, an injury he sustained while running to keep the pounds off.

The Bucs head coach was seen motoring around practice on a scooter to stay off of his injured leg at the start of December. At the time, Arians said he would be in a walking boot for a month.

At the turn of the new year, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Arians’ Achilles is about 50 percent torn, and if it fully ruptures, he’ll have to undergo surgery, an outcome he’s looking to avoid.

If the ailing tendon tears in the immediate, then he’ll need surgery in the immediate. He’s expected to have surgery after the conclusion of the Buccaneers’ season if the tendon holds up.

In the Buccaneers’ playoff matchup vs. the Eagles, Arians was seen with an icepack taped onto the back of his injured leg, but remained on his feet. 

Should the Buccaneers advance — and Arians fully rupture his Achilles — then it’ll be something to keep an eye on the rest of the playoffs.