Freshly out of the head coach’s chair, Bruce Arians has an interesting perspective about the success of an NFL team.

Speaking to Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday, Arians was asked about Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, and had some interesting comments about the Tampa Bay offense over the past two seasons.

“I get credit, and [Tom] Brady gets way too much credit for what Byron does with our offense,” Arians said. “One of the reasons I hope he gets all the credit he deserves this year is to get a coaching gig; you know, he had about four or five teams real interested last year. . . . I would anticipate him to be a head coach real fast.”

Arians has previously said that he receives too much credit, but it was interesting that he threw Brady in the mix here. There were rumors that Arians decided to give up the head coaching chair due to a rift with Brady, who retired after the season but un-retired just over a month later.

Both sides have denied any report of a rift, and Arians kept that same tune during the Wednesday interview.

“No, not at all,” Arians said, when asked if friction forced him out. “You know me. I cuss them all out. We have a great relationship.”

Leftwich, who has coordinated the Bucs’ offense since 2019, was passed over for defensive coordinator Todd Bowles for the vacant head coaching job last month. Bowles has previous head coaching experience, heading the Jets from 2015 to 2018.

Arians said in the interview that Leftwich was “so close” to landing the Jaguars’ head coaching job this offseason, which ended up going to Doug Pederson. It’s widely expected that the former NFL quarterback will land a coaching job sooner rather than later.