The Mike Evans Mystery
October 7th, 2015
Film study raises more questions about slumping WR Mike Evans.
Joe has already pointed out how stud receiver Mike Evans has been near invisible this year, aside from a decent game at Houston, sans all of his drops.
Yes, Joe understands Evans has battled a dicey hamstring ailment.
In fact, one could make the case Evans hasn’t had a decent game dating back nearly 11 months. For a guy supposed to be the Bucs’ version of Julio Jones, that is not good.
Evans was targeted eight times Sunday against Carolina and had but three catches. Mike Clay of Pro Football Focus seems to believe it was neither stellar defense that kept Evans under wraps, nor was it any fault of America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston.
So Josh Norman shadowed Vincent Jackson on Sunday. Not ideal if you’re looking for excuses for Mike Evans’ struggles.
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) October 6, 2015
Clay later in his Twitter timeline pointed out that the few plays Norman didn’t cover Jackson, Jameis recognized the coverage virtually every time and targeted Jackson accordingly.
So how was it that Jameis picked up each time Norman didn’t cover Jackson, but Jamies didn’t target Evans when Norman was preoccupied with Jackson?
The only logical conclusion is that Evans simply couldn’t get open.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:06 am
The new Michael Clayton
October 7th, 2015 at 9:09 am
Mike Evans has the same issue that GMC, LVD etc.. a lack of accountability. It’s organizational.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:11 am
Just like Lavonte David, the longer Mike Evans is coached by Smith and Crew, the worse he looks on the field.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:13 am
Evans has nothing on V Jax! he aint a 10 million dollar man for no reason.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:18 am
Three possbilities: least likely is a sophomore slump, 2nd least is that he is still gimpy from his injury and is playing at 50% and the most likely scenario (as this is a Tampa Bay draft pick we are talking about) is that he is turning into another Mike Clayton; a flash in the pan. I hope he rebounds but right now if something can go wrong for the Bucs it likely will…..
October 7th, 2015 at 9:19 am
I would guess Carolina rolled double coverage to Evans. A good defense can neutralize any teams threat. Stop trying to blame everyone else. They lost this one because of Winston.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:19 am
I have a feeling that the hammy is still bothering him. Physically he doesn’t look like he’s fighting for possession like he did last year. Plus, the dude has to be rusty as hell. His football conditioning had to have suffered from all the downtime.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:21 am
@Joe
It ain’t that complicated man. Tall receivers like Mike Evans are best matched up against safeties by throwing long passes down field. Does Evans still not know how to use his big body to fight for position? Is Jameis not allowed to take deep shots down field? Surely Dirk Koeter can draw up safety beater routers, the only problem is that our offensive line would need to block well enough for them to work.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:22 am
I don’t know what is ailing Evans, nobody apparently knows. If they do know, nobody is telling.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:24 am
The hamstring injury is the likely culprit. Watch the video. He’s not making any cuts or hard plants. Every pattern is rounded. He’s not getting separation. May be the real reason why we didn’t try a jump ball at the end of the half against Carolina.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:31 am
I am hoping the injury is just keeping him from playing at 100% but fear that he could be Mike Clayton version deux!
October 7th, 2015 at 9:36 am
Playing soft. Since preseason wk 1
October 7th, 2015 at 9:40 am
Both are the same WR.. Hopefully why we brought Dye up. Get some speed and quick twitch runners. Evens & VJ are slow and can’t get away from Man coverage.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:54 am
I think I just will start reposting my pre-season analyst
https://www.joebucsfan.com/2015/06/evans-close-to-100-percent/
The Buc Realist Says:
June 5th, 2015 at 9:37 am
I am really see that Evans and VJ numbers to be way down. Last year the stats were very skewed! Mostly due to injuries in TE, and being down by 2 touchdowns before the end of the 1st quarter. Most of the time the run game day plan was thrown out the window by halftime. 531 passes compared to 353 run attempts.
And the 2 huge lineman they drafted really point to trying to get a running game going this year!
so far this year 133 pass attempts to 111 rush attempts!!!!
October 7th, 2015 at 10:03 am
He was open all day against Houston.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:21 am
Good to see him working with Randy Moss did so much good! What’d they do smoke pot and watch old patriots clips of Randy and Brady?
October 7th, 2015 at 10:37 am
mike evans entire demeanor is different this year. I noticed it at training camp and so far this season. I can’t put my finger on it but there is something wrong. whether he is disinterested or is simply fed up with lovie’s bs who knows but something is not the same with Evans.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:46 am
Sophomore jinx.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:50 am
Another wasted draft pick that underachieves when he puts on a Bucs uniform just like ASJ. Lazy, disinterested and no heart. L&L have made horrendous draft picks as well as FA picks. As long as they’re in charge, no hope. These players need to be treated like the spoiled little divas they are.
October 7th, 2015 at 11:06 am
Does any one knows if ASJ and M Evans have played a complete game together?
I am not ready to give up on Mike Evans!
October 7th, 2015 at 11:51 am
Uh he missed half of the preseason, game 1, wasn’t doing much in his first game back in game 2, got 17 targets in game 3, and then Jackson had a big game in game 4.
It’s called gameflow fruits. After all his drops in week 3 Winston was probably looking to work Jackson into the game more, and it just turned out the Bucs had the ball for a ton of plays and Jackson wasn’t dropping the ball so he got more looks.
Calm down, Winston is only just now beginning to develop a rapport with his WRs. Also when I did see a ball go Evans way Norman was there. So at least on those plays Norman was covering Evans. I haven’t gone back and rewatched the game as I’m not a masochist so maybe that just happened to be the only time Norman was there.
October 7th, 2015 at 11:55 am
Dude doesn’t have the speed to sepetate from receivers
October 7th, 2015 at 2:19 pm
There is no mystery. Evans wasn’t open when Jameis looked his way. And, depending on DL play, Jameis may not have been able to see him.
All-22 is a great tool for play-by-play analysis. but, it can be misused by journalists. Of course there are open receivers on every play. But, the QB can’t always see them because of the clutter in the pocket. That reason somehow gets translated into “Jameis can’t see well enough, yet”.
The alternative is to have your QB just blindly throw to a spot based on timing. Some offenses can do this successfully, with veteran QB’s and WR’s. It’s the result of mutual trust and years of experience that make Rogers, Manning and Brady, within this context, undefendable.
The obvious reason for “no-look” passing being successful is that the QB/WR “know” where the ball is going and LB/DB are always LATE when “reacting” to 1) the QB’s Eyes, 2) film analysis of D/D and formation, and 3) always being late when reacting to just a receiver’s routes.
For the most part the rest of the non-elite NFL QB’s (see above) are to a greater extent “point n’ shoot” passers. That makes them more vulnerable to a defense reacting to their eyes. They are able to lesson the eye-tell by having great mobility, a good-great OL and greater familiarity with the extra-situational responses of their receivers.
Looking at all of the above reasons for success in the passing game Jameis, Mike and Vincent are good at passing and catching. But, all the other factors that are necessary for the ultimate success are still being “developed”. The coaches and players tell the media/fans this every week. But, this is cold comfort for fans. Even in a world of “twitter-speak” length click-bait analysis the media should be informative enough to “gently” lower expectations and be more proactive to assist the fans in becoming more NFL knowledgeable.
The Bucs’ owner, coaches and players are not about fleecing the fans. The truth is that it takes time to build a winner. And, rebuilding every few years with new coaches and players only delays the process of fielding the best possible franchise.
There is nothing “wrong” with Mike Evans. Cheer for VJax and realize that sometimes the opposition is just better.
October 7th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Why dont we have at least one receiver who can get open deep by using his speed? I know we just resigned Dontae Dye but it blows my mind that we are only going with the two towers approach we need someone who can blow the top off the defense to keep them honest. Shelving Kenny Bell who probably is healed up now for the season didnt help. Until we get a speed receiver out on that field we are doomed.