Channeling The Fire
April 14th, 2016
Mike Evans wants to control his emotions.
Mike Evans is a gifted wide receiver. His footwork along the sidelines is some of the best Joe has ever seen.
Evans, if he has a problem, if he has a roadblock, it isn’t his physical talents, it is his head. Too often it seemed Evans was more worried about drawing a defensive interference call, or hollering for one, than finishing the play and, you know, catching the damn ball.
In the season finale, all too predictably, we all saw Stinking Panthers defensive back Josh Norman get in Evans’ head and totally take him out of the game.
Evans admitted this week that his emotions get the best of him and it is a focus of his to channel them effectively.
“If you’ve seen me throughout my career – college was the same – I play with an attitude, I play with fire, you know, I play with passion,” Evans said. “It’s a difference between passion and being dumb, being hot-headed and I’ve got to find that happy medium and I think I will this year. You know, getting married, it probably helped mature me, so we’ll see. …
“Just focus. You know, I wasn’t focused some games and I have to do that better. I have to practice more – I have to get better in practice with it. It just comes with repetition. Last season is behind me.”
As far as this season, Evans acknowledged he still talks to Randy Moss “all the time” and he and America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, have discussed working out with Moss this summer but nothing is finalized.
If Evans can get his emotions in check, he could be an elite wide receiver. Joe would rather see him channel his passion by laying linebackers on their backsides rather than barking at the refs and waving for a flag before the ball gets to him.
April 14th, 2016 at 3:32 am
“Joe would rather see him channel his passion by laying linebackers on their backsides”
Exactly. Get that aggression out by throwing some monster blocks (like we’ve seen him do)… And then explode off the line and go get the ball when your number is called.
April 14th, 2016 at 5:39 am
Mike williams was pretty darn good along the sideline too. Couldnt believe some of his catches. Too bad his immaturity derailed him so fast. At least evans is talking about it n knows he has a problem. Thats a great start
April 14th, 2016 at 6:26 am
Don’t confuse immaturity with stupidity
April 14th, 2016 at 8:09 am
IDK about puttin Linebackers on there back, but he sure can lay some defensive backs on the butt, that’s for sure. Just ask Newsome from the Bengals.
I think Evans will be a more mature player next season and get back to his rookie form where he was basically “uncoverable”.
Look for Jameis and Mike to form that bond between each other and become one the better tandems in this league.
Then you will have the three headed monster in Dougy, Jameis, and Evans. This offense can become scary if they pull it all together.
April 14th, 2016 at 8:49 am
Ey Savage Mike… Get Hines Wards’ number. He can show you how to get nasty as a receiver and channel that aggression the right way.
April 14th, 2016 at 8:55 am
Just took a look on nflpenalties web site and was surprised to see that Evans did not have as many emotional type penalties as I thought. He had 5 offensive pass interference, one false start, one illegal block, and 3 others that were of the unsportman like, illegal hit, ejection kind. This kind of looks like he was struggling to get seperation and was getting frustrated. Having another burner WR on the roster would sure help.