Calming Words From Pat Kirwan
December 11th, 2015
Receivers and drops.
Bucs stud wide receiver Mike Evans is quickly becoming a lightning rod for fans.
On one hand, he makes spectacular catches and his footwork along the sidelines may be the best Joe’s ever seen from a big guy.
Then there are Evans’ drops. Lots of them. Maddening. And one could safely argue those drops have led to two losses, which very well could cost the Bucs a wild card berth.
Of course, there are the cheerleaders. When Joe references Evans’ many drops, they freak out, as if Joe is responsible for Evans putting the ball on the ground. Then there are the diehard fans who believe, like one guy just Twittered Joe about Evans, “Just catch the ball and STFU!”
Earlier today on the best damn football radio show known to man, “Movin’ the Chains,” co-hosted by Pat Kirwan, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, the subject of drops and young receivers came up.
Rookie Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper has overtaken Evans for the NFL lead in dropped passes, per SportingCharts.com. Kirwan, the former Bucs coffee-fetcher and pro personnel director of the Jets, said of Cooper, who earlier this year caught everything thrown his way, “All young receivers go through a period of the dropsies.”
Kirwan then cited receivers such as Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens. They also ran off the rails with a rash of dropped passes as young receivers.
While Kirwan wasn’t talking about Evans, he indirectly was. Evans, in his second year, is still a young receiver.
Sadly, the Bucs, with little room to spare the rest of the season, need Evans more than ever to catch the damn ball.
December 11th, 2015 at 5:31 pm
Mike Evans didn’t start playing football until his Sr. year of high school. Not to excuse the drops, but he is still learning to play quicker.
Evans is one helluva an athlete and Jameis can chuck the damn rock. We just need Evans to concentrate and see the ball all the way into his hands. He will get there, I just hope we can beat the Taints this weekend.
December 11th, 2015 at 5:32 pm
I guess you never watch Calvin Johnson, AJ Greene. ME just reminds me of Michael Floyd.. We need quick twitch athletes not Groot running deep, stumbling and the ball hitting him in the helmet.
December 11th, 2015 at 6:05 pm
ME13 is a stud WR…..very young and with somewhat limited experience. We are lucky to have him and he and Jameis will connect for a long time to come.
Sure….he’s dropped some passes…..but anyone who can make the catches he makes is worth a drop now and then.
What’s the option?……trade him?……I don’t think so.
December 11th, 2015 at 6:42 pm
I think that we are forgetting he has not played organized football very long. It takes time to perfect your craft. He’ll get there and the Bucs will be better for it.
December 11th, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Jerry Rice almost quit football, he then spent the off season working with his old man who was a bricklayer and caught bricks… Enter Dodgeball comment, you catch a wrench, ya can catch anything!!!
December 11th, 2015 at 7:05 pm
If the Bucs are in a playoff push Evans will be a factor in getting them there if he stays healthy. He is young and is only going to get better. I’m highly confident his impact will continue to be 1st round pick worthy.
December 11th, 2015 at 7:19 pm
Joe you get hung up an idea and won’t let it go. ME makes spectacular catches in every game. He makes several catches every game that most receivers can’t. He has missed two catches over that past two games and yet you are acting like he has the yips. I just hope your wining doesn’t chase him off when his contract expires!
December 11th, 2015 at 7:23 pm
Let’s see. 1,000 yards plus last year. 1,000 yards plus most likely this year. Something’s definitely wrong with him. You’d think Mike would’ve figured out how to catch balls by now. (Bucs fans should be thankful for just having a 1,000 yd receiver).
Seems like a lot of the balls that Mike drops should be easy catches. The hard ones he regularly catches it seems. Maybe at this point in his career it’s just a focus issue: on the easy ones he’s thinking about yards-after-the-catch, but on the harder ones he’s focusing more on just making the catch. Who knows.
December 11th, 2015 at 7:48 pm
R.O. – You made me laugh so hard I spat my food on my iPad. Thanks for that. I think.
December 11th, 2015 at 7:52 pm
R.O. – You made me laugh so hard I spat my food on my iPad. Thanks for that. I think.
December 11th, 2015 at 7:59 pm
Los manos de piedre.
December 11th, 2015 at 9:14 pm
Per SportingCharts.com Mike Evans has a total of 8 dropped passes for the year? I like whoever is adding these numbers for Evans. It appears that every site tracks dropped passes differently? ESPN reported 6 in the Giants game while PFF had 5. In the Houston game, earlier in the season, Evans had at least 3 dropped passes and some sites had 4. PFF had Evans at 10 for the year after the Giants game. How many has he dropped since? I guess Sporting Charts hands out dropped passes only if there is no defender within 10 feet, the ball hits the receiver on the numbers, both hands have contact with the ball and the wind is less than 5 MPH? The good news is that there are plenty of other receivers having a case of the dropsees. Evans will get past this stretch of his career sooner than later. Just keep focusing on not whining at the refs and eliminate those OPI penalties.
December 11th, 2015 at 9:23 pm
Not worried about this. Lets hope our LBs step up Sunday vs Saints
December 11th, 2015 at 10:04 pm
I don’t have Sirius so have no clue who Kirwan is. Good thing judging from the comments. So, ME is a 2nd year player. He’ll get better as he gains more experience. All the receivers are young guys except VJax. He’s helping school these youngsters, and having a ball doing it. Heck, he lopes out on the field during a game and has to raise a red flag to get FamousJ to throw to him. I can’t believe I’m typing these words. That’s how good this offense is right now. Just wait until next season. 8-8 FER SURE!! Go Mighty Bucs Sunday!!
December 11th, 2015 at 11:07 pm
Second in the league in dropped passes. Joe is not dropping those balls.
If Winston was second in NFL in interceptions you’d want to run him out of town, right?
If Martin was second in the NFL in fumbles you’d be freaking out, right?
Why should Evans get a pass?
December 12th, 2015 at 4:25 am
Gotta agree with you here Joe. It’s frustrating as hell, but I think it will pass in time. After all, there is a reason the phrase “sophomore slump” exists….
Hopefully it gets better as the season winds down. Playoff push! Let’s go!
December 12th, 2015 at 5:40 am
Evans has drops some balls that may have cost us some games. However, he caught the game winner on a tough catch last week. He just needs to work on watching the ball all the in and he will be fine. He is a beast when it comes to blocking. I remember Michael Clayton after his first year he couldn’t catch nothing. I think Evans will be great just give him a some slack.
December 12th, 2015 at 6:16 am
Got curious this morning about how the Bucs have been using Mike Evans and how he was doing in various parts of the field.
Looks like he’s been targeted DEEP 35 times this season but has only caught 14 of those (40%). He did very good in 4 games (Redskins, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles) when he 10 caught of 15 targeted deep (67%) but real bad in the others.
Mike’s done considerably better catching the SHORT/MID stuff. There he’s been targeted 75 times and has caught 40 of those (53%). And in the last 4 games he’s done much better than that (24 targeted SHORT/MID and 17 caught (for 71%).
Looks to me like Mike has struggled earlier (deep especially), but is now getting that squared away. If Bucs are going to make a push for the playoffs, now’s a good time to be catching stuff.
December 12th, 2015 at 8:39 am
Actually Joe Winston is a good comparison here with Evans! He has played outstanding most of the year and is definitely a franchise QB. He is a star in the making but he has had a couple of bad games. He has thrown a few picks and missed a couple of times on key passes. Should we bash him for that or realize that he is a game changer that makes plenty of great plays and is a key component in the Bucs turn around. He may have cost the Bucs a game or two but without him this team is nowhere near as good as they are. The same is true for Evans.
December 12th, 2015 at 9:57 am
Hey Joe, where you going with this article about Evans?
You reference a single embarrassing stat.
What about other stats like….I don’t know….TD’s? Yardage?
Then there’s the intangibles, like intimidation factor, ability to
make those poetic toe-tap catches at the sideline, etc.
Sure, we need Evans to be Jerry Rice someday, but right now he’s
still a huge asset.
Lol, with the Bucs improving you’re quickly running out of players
to pick on.
December 12th, 2015 at 10:41 am
@Defenserules
I think your speculation makes perfect sense because I too see him making incredible clutch catches like the TD against Atlanta to win the game.
Then drops the easy ones…your explantion makes perfect sense.
December 12th, 2015 at 10:44 am
If you were a corner, would you be intimidated by a guy just as likely to drop an easy pass as he is to catch it?
Don’t get mad at Joe. He’s not the one dropping passes. And that very well could cost the Bucs a shot at the playoffs.
December 12th, 2015 at 12:53 pm
If the Bucs make the playoffs Evans will have risen to the occasion.