Fixing Mike Evans
May 20th, 2016
Bucs OC talks Mike Evans.
Joe hates to be repetitive (but hey, it’s May), but Mike Evans is one of the more gifted receivers in the NFL. His footwork along the sidelines is magical.
But those drops! Ugh! And the constant bellyaching at officials for a flag. And his giving up on plays when he thinks he is interfered with. It’s maddening, mostly because of how gifted he is.
So the first question Joe had yesterday to offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Todd Monken asked if Evans can be fixed and his drops be minimized.
Monken said is so many words, “Yes, they can.”
“It’s repetition,” Monken said. “He understands where he’s got to get to, what he’s capable of. All we can do is work every day to correct it. He’s got to make a decision…first of all, I thought he came back in great shape, I really did. The more he practices, the more he works with Jameis, the better he’s going to get.”
So if Joe is reading Monken correctly, it’s all about practice and all about want-to.
To Joe, it is more mental. Never, ever should Evans give up on a route if he thinks he was interfered with. Never. He has no control over whether a flag is thrown. With his size, he can still battle for balls, for position, for the catch.
And for goodness sake, knock off the barking at referees. Worry about the task at hand, and that is one simple task: catch the ball. Everything else is uncontrollable, thus he shouldn’t think about anything but catching the damn ball.
May 20th, 2016 at 8:09 am
This is the first year Mike Evans will actually have a qualified and competent WR coach so I expect tremendous progress both with his mental game and physical game.
May 20th, 2016 at 8:26 am
With some players you have to take some bad with a lot of good….ME13 may be one of them….I hope not……and I think practice does make a difference….. I like EVans passion….but it gets him in trouble. Some of this is immaturity….he’s still very young.
Just think……we could have Johnny Manziel instead of Evans…..who would like that?
May 20th, 2016 at 8:30 am
The drops are frustrating at times but then he reminds us why he is our number 1. Plus this is only his 3rd year. Jerry rice also had 10 drops coming in and Julio jones had an issue with drops as well and look how that turned out. Not saying Evans will be jerry rice I’m just saying maybe he needs a little time.
May 20th, 2016 at 8:41 am
Maybe they should ask MG8??? The drops were not so apparent when he threw the ball!!!!! Also maybe staying healthy thru training camp with out the dreaded “hamstring” would help!!!! Some players just need lots of repetition for great success!!!!!!!
May 20th, 2016 at 8:55 am
I do notice that some hand contact by defenders just before the attempted catch is overlooked by refs.
May 20th, 2016 at 8:56 am
More plaudits for his ballet skills? Not sure what good it is if he can’t hold on to the ball but I suppose that’s the player we bought.
Does he twirl too?
May 20th, 2016 at 9:05 am
Well if you caight his E60 episode it might give some insight on where his head was last season. Not making excuses for my dude but it appears to me that ME needs a positive atmosphere to perform at optimun level. The lockerroom was far from right last year. ME will back to regular all star form this season. This topic is a none issue.
May 20th, 2016 at 9:24 am
Mike could be a top 3 receiver if he gets his mind right and stops dropping passes. He’s still, with the drops, a very talented receiver. If we’re to see growth in this offense, Jameis is going to need guys to step up.
May 20th, 2016 at 10:19 am
He’d probably get more calls his way if he were smaller…he just has to realize that his size will get discriminates against. The way to offset that is to run better routes and get better seperation. That will happen more as he gets more experienced.
May 20th, 2016 at 10:32 am
A bad stretch of drops at crucial times for a receiver that still lit it up last season. Mike Evans is an absolute beast and plays all out. Focus…. Focus is all he needs.
May 20th, 2016 at 10:53 am
the drops obscured the fact that he worked hard last offseason on learning some tricks of the trade with the likes of randy moss. he’s still relatively new to football. i think that effort paid off when you consider the production he could’ve had by holding on to more footballs. if he puts the same type of work into erasing the drops this offseason, look out. year 3 is always a big one for WRs to put it all together anyhow
May 20th, 2016 at 12:07 pm
Joe could not have said it better. Worry about what you and control and just catch the ball. Maybe maturity will help Mike here but if he simply focuses on catching the ball instead of fighting defenders and refs, almost all of his penalties would go away and he would drop less balls.
May 20th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
They just need to get him the same damn gloves that Odell Beckham uses.
May 20th, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Yes, catch the ball then give me some YAC! He gets tackled far too easily for a man his size. Actually, it looks like he’s falling before the tackling attempt is often made. He doesn’t strike me as being mentally tough. I wish I had his body (I had his abilities, at his age), you would have needed an elephant gun to get me on the ground. Grow up and toughen up, mike, we need it!
May 20th, 2016 at 12:50 pm
@tmaxcon….evans had a helluva rookie year with his incompetent wr coach…his issue isn’t coaching…it concentration…its the mental part of the game….you cant coach heart or what’s between the ears…players have to take accountability and take ownership for their play on the field….to his credit mike has accepted responsibility for his poor play and realizes that he has to do a better job staying focus….blaming a coach for a player dropping a ball is ridiculous and shows how little you know about football….GO BUCS!!!!
May 20th, 2016 at 12:58 pm
You would have cut Lynn Swann, eh? Half his catches were the “ballerina” type you deplore. Same with John Jefferson (look him up).
Or would you rather see the limited catches Evans does make be ruled incomplete because he has rotten footwork and steps out of bounds or he can’t get two feet in-bounds?
May 20th, 2016 at 1:00 pm
Dreambig:
Thank you.
May 20th, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Where was Kwon’s head in Atlanta two days after his brother was murdered? Oh yeah, had the best game of his life.
Where was Joe Jurevicius’ head the two games after his infant son lay dying in a hospital room? He had the two best games of his life, NFC championship and Super Bowl.
Sorry, I feel bad for Evans not growing up with his dad. To suggest his dad being murdered a decade ago (in payback for the multiple beatings he inflicted on Evans’ mother) to why he’s dropping passes and barking at officials in his second NFL season is a big time reach/excuse.
May 20th, 2016 at 1:21 pm
I think Evans is more like a cross of Vinect Jackson and AJ Green. That’s not a bad think, he’ll still be one of the best WR’s in the league but will be plagued by dropped balls. Rarely do dropped balls just go away. VJ has had a ton of issues with drops and obviously AJ is streaky in that regard as well.
May 20th, 2016 at 1:51 pm
I don’t know where either one of those guys heads were after experiencing they’re tragedies. Your example is somewhat puzzling to me. Are you implying we’re all the same handle adversity in the exact same fashion.
May 20th, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Joe is stating — not implying — that Evans is supposed to be a professional and if there is something that took place a decade ago that is still preventing him from performing his job, he should then recuse himself and seek help.
His tragedy didn’t seem to bother him at Texas A&M or his rookie season with the Bucs, or in high school in Galveston where he was a star hoops player.
And if you don’t think Kwon’s brother’s murder didn’t bother him, you didn’t see him crying before the game, on the bench or bawling after the game. Yet he balled out.
At the end of the day, it’s called “discipline.”
May 20th, 2016 at 1:56 pm
Like I stated above none issue. Better to have a season where you drop a few and still put up 1200 yards now where it can be used as motivation going forward. More so than later in your career after you’ve become seasoned in the league then being force to deal with issues of confidence. Like someone told earlier much like I stated a month ago. Jerry dropped a few early in his career. He turned out just fine bro.
May 20th, 2016 at 2:00 pm
Well if you read my post thoroughly you would have seen that I stated the porous atmosphere in that lockeroom might have had something to do with that turmoil coming to forefront of his mind. But this is just my opinion I’m not speaking for Mike Evans
May 20th, 2016 at 2:54 pm
Evans will be fine. He’s a stud receiver. Another year of mentorship under VJax along with better coaching and further developed chemistry with JW will make this budding star shine.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:00 pm
I’m fine with him “barking at refs.”
It’s not like he’s the only WR to do it. They all do. All the good WRs at least. Because you never know when it can give you a call and extra yards.
I think Evans will be fantastic. In a year, his drops issue will be a distant memory and we’ll wonder why anyone was concerned.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
@Nole
Well said.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:04 pm
Vitale, if he starts, will get 600-800 total yards this year 😛
Just thought I would toss that in.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:11 pm
If you want to solve the drop problem, put him 10 yards away from Winston and have him chuck fastballs at Evans until he stops dropping them. I think that will fix the problem.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Good look Bonzai and I can totally see the Vitale thung coming to fruition. That Chi-town kid looks really nice.
May 20th, 2016 at 3:34 pm
LOL Jameis might blow his arm out and need Tommy John surgery.
May 21st, 2016 at 8:35 am
The more practice Jameis and Evans can get the better the chemistry is between the 2. It was obvious last season that they were not on the same page. Especially when it came to the deep ball where the timing had to be just right. I think last season will make him become a better player and he will learn from all his mistakes. He just needs to focus more, and not take for granted the success he had in his rookie year. He has already showed us what he can do when he is completely focused on his game and not letting corners and referee’s distract him. My prediction is that he gets back on track and proves that his rookie campaign was no fluke. He must understand that he is a vital key to our offense having success not only in the present, but the future as well.
2016 predictions for #13
84 catches
1250 yards
8 TD’s
May 21st, 2016 at 6:51 pm
Evans will be a complete MONSTER this year. Bank on it!!!