TAMPA — The order has been issued for Zero Dark 30-yard line. Bruce Arians doesn’t want his players to be prisoners of the daylight. They must learn how to win at night, which happens to be when most of the prime-time games are played.After going 1-2 in Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games this season, with the lone win an uninspiring 25-23 victory over the New York Giants, the Bucs are going to practice under the lights.Arians has scheduled workouts Friday and Saturday to be held around 7:30 p.m. at the team’s indoor facility.It’s all in preparation for the Bucs' game against the Los Angeles Rams at Raymond James Stadium on Monday Night Football. It’s also quite possibly a desperate reaction to the embarrassing 38-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football on Nov. 9.“We’ve got to try something" Arians said. "Luckily, we have an indoor facility where we can work at night. So we’re going to try to do that and hopefully get a better result to start a ballgame at night.”Of course, each game had a different opponent, list of injured players and reasons for losing. But the common theme is that the Bucs haven’t played very well with the nation watching.It began with a 20-19 loss at Chicago on Thursday Night Football in which the Bucs had 11 penalties and failed to hold a lead with under two minutes to play.The Bucs' lone victory in prime time came against the Giants, a game in which they played poorly and trailed before two Daniel Jones interceptions sparked a comeback. Even then, the Bucs needed a referee to pick up a flag for pass interference on a two-point conversion try that could’ve sent the game to overtime.Finally, the Bucs were embarrassed on Monday Night Football against the Saints, going three-and-out on offense four times to start the game. Brady was sacked three times and threw three interceptions.Arians was asked Monday if there were any common threads to pull from those lackluster performances.“No, it’s just bad football,” he said. “Bad football and not being ready to play.”Of course, the Bucs haven’t fared very well in prime time for several years. They are 4-10 in night games since 2013.Further compounding Arians' frustration is the fact that he believed in each instance his team was well-prepared but didn’t play that way.Bucs tight end Cameron Brate said players did some soul-searching following the loss to the Saints.“If things go the way that we think, where we’re playing playoff games, we’re going to be on that stage definitely more often toward the end of the year, as well,” he said. “It’s something we’ve got to kind of figure out”For players, not every prime-time routine is the same. Thursday night games require meetings and game-planning until kickoff, since the game is typically played without the benefit of a full week of padded practices.At least for a Sunday night game, players can spend part of the afternoon watching NFL games on television.But there is even less to focus on in preparation for Monday Night Football. “The Thursday one, you’re still doing so much preparation for the game ... because you’ve only had a couple days to go over the game plan,” Brate said. “Sunday, you’ve got football all day to watch. Monday, you’ve got nothing. You can only go over the game plan so many times. I think everybody does a little nap. Rest up. But like you said, the Monday one, that one is a little different. But it’s Monday Night Football, so you’ve got to get up for it.”Of course, the Bucs' biggest stars ― Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown ― have spent their careers playing in prime-time games, including the playoffs and the Super Bowl.But for whatever reason, the excitement of a prime-time game hasn’t resulted in good execution.“I think the teams that are in prime time year in and year out (are successful),” Arians said. “We haven’t been one of those teams, so we’re learning about that. We have a couple players who were: A.B. (Antonio Brown), Tom (Brady) and a few other guys have ben in a ton of prime-time games. The rest of the ballclub, you have to learn how to play then, because it does ratchet up a little bit.”Given the Bucs' success after enduring an eight-hour flight delay to Charlotte, N.C., maybe they should adopt that routine.“Maybe. Just go over there and sit on an airplane,” Arians said. “Just sit there about four hours before the game and see what it does.”A look at the Bucs' unflattering recent record in prime-time games 2008 Oct. 19 vs. Seahawks, W 20-10 (Sunday)Dec. 8 at Panthers, L 23-38 (Monday) 2009 None 2010 None 2011 Oct. 3 vs. Colts, W 24-17 (Monday)Dec. 17 vs. Cowboys, L 15-31 (Saturday) 2012 Oct. 25 at Vikings, W 36-17 (Thursday) 2013 Oct. 24 vs. Panthers, L 13-31 (Thursday)Nov. 11 vs. Dolphins, W 22-19 (Monday) 2014 Sept. 18 at Falcons, L 14-56 (Thursday) 2015 Dec. 17 at Rams, L 23-31 (Thursday) 2016 Oct. 10 at Panthers, W 17-14 (Monday)Nov. 3 vs. Falcons, L 28-43 (Thursday)Dec. 18 at Cowboys, L 20-26 (Sunday) 2017 Oct. 5 vs. Patriots, L 14-19 (Thursday)Dec. 18 vs. Falcons, L 21-24 (Monday) 2018 Sept. 24 vs. Steelers, L 27-30 (Monday) 2019 Sept. 12 at Panthers, W 20-14 (Thursday) 2020 Oct. 8 at Bears, L 19-20 (Thursday)Nov. 2 at Giants, W 25-23 (Monday)Nov. 8 vs. Saints, L 3-38 (Sunday) — JOEY KNIGHT, Times Staff Writer
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