Magical Combo
November 16th, 2016
“Magic” at work last Sunday.
OK, it is Wednesday and Joe usually turns the page on the past game, win or lose, on this day to look ahead to the next opponent.
For one last story, Joe is going to look back at the crazy backyard football play between America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, and Mike Evans that folks are still talking about.
Joe talked with both Bucs receivers and a Bucs defender who watched the play and all suggested that not only have they seen Jameis pull off such plays in practice, Jameis’ ability to somehow avoid a sack and turn a near safety into a first down at midfield fired them up as much as the fans.
Russell Shepard went so far as to refer to the Jameis-Evans combination as something akin to a football wizardry.
“For the most part, me, I loved it,” Shepard said. “That’s what Jameis and Mike Evans do. They make magic. When things break down we always believe in scramble drills win plays. We always believe we have the guys to make the play when our quarterback is scrambling. It is something we practice and it is a testimony to those two guys and their ability. It was a great one.”
Alterraun Verner admitted players watching on the bench became as geeked as fans as the play unfolded, but he stressed it was nothing new. Jameis, Verner said, pulls off such plays in practice often.
“You always have to wait and see with Jameis,” Verner said. “He has a knack of making plays like that. So you just have to have faith in Jameis to make the smart plays. And he did it right. That is Jameis. That’s why we like him and love him as our quarterback.
“Oh, he had definitely done it in practice many times. [The play] is to 13 and to 84 [Cameron Brate] and to Vincent [Jackson] when he was here. [Jameis] has done it plenty of times. We can’t hit the quarterback [in practice] so he is always scrambling to find ways so this is nothing new to him.”
Cecil Shorts admitted he was getting a helluva workout during the play trying to get open for Jameis to bail him out, but in some ways wished he was on the sidelines witnessing Dirk Koetter’s reaction as the play developed.
“I am pretty sure Coach was going crazy on the sidelines,” Shorts said suggesting Koetter was likely screaming for Jameis to throw the ball away. “I am pretty sure he was going wild.
“I was out there running around and sacrificing. When Jameis ran to the left we tried to mirror him and get to the left and get open. Ran back right, ran back left. [The hustle by Jameis] shows his fight and his heart and his determination. When you throw it up to Mike, you know he is going to come down with it.”
Shorts said teammates were ribbing Evans saying the play was a throwback for Evans to his days catching bombs from a scrambling Johnny Football, which Evans didn’t deny.
“That’s something I am used to,” Evans said with a big smile.
Adam Humphries almost shrugged his shoulders about the play — almost routine for him from practices as directed by offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
“Our No. 1 play is scramble,” Humphries said. “We do a good job [with it] in scramble drills.
November 16th, 2016 at 10:07 am
Our No. 1 play is scramble,” Humphries said. “We do a good job [with it] in scramble drills.
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Every week I hear this quote which I think is great. Mike and Jameis are the best players at their positions in TB history. What a time to be alive!!!
#RejoiceForTheKingdomOfJameisIsHere
November 16th, 2016 at 10:08 am
Jah bless these fine young men!!!
They are growing into true brothers!
@joe
I dare you to hate on Mike Evans for standing up by sitting down against
racism, sexism, bigotry and extremism.
“Love your enemy.”- Yeshua ben Yosef aka “Jesus”
By the way, Jesus’s mom and aunt and disciple all wore a HIJAB!!!
Show some class gringos!!!
November 16th, 2016 at 10:11 am
Bucs play of the year, hopefully this propels us into a good streak
November 16th, 2016 at 10:28 am
While the play was exciting and great, How many other times our Qb is running around taking hits??? Draft WR and TE and stop making the offense harder than it needs to be!!!! Stop with JW3 being the most “hit” QB in the league!!!!!!
Go America!!!!!
And Go Bucs!!!!!!!
November 16th, 2016 at 10:35 am
Thank you Realist.
“He’s inconsistent”
He also has the dirtiest jersey on the field every Sunday.
November 16th, 2016 at 10:53 am
Good thing Evans didn’t take that play “sitting down.”
November 16th, 2016 at 11:28 am
Where is the offensive line coach and koetters reasons why jameis is getting killed. Our franchise qb is not going to make it through the season
Kc is going make a mockery of this offensive line
Hearing fatboy dsmith at the radio, i was studded. No accountability from this slow slob. Why aren’t the coaches yelling at these idiots
#jaboo2obj2019
November 16th, 2016 at 12:03 pm
Amen to Realist and DB! We have got to protect him better. I think we will see improvement with Dougie coming back and a bigger threat to run.
November 16th, 2016 at 1:14 pm
I like what you have to say teacherman. Keep it up man.
November 16th, 2016 at 2:18 pm
Big difference between scramble drills in practice where no hitting the QB is allowed and a real NFL game where the defenders are looking to put a hurt on a scrambling QB if possible.
To make that type of play work in a game and turn into a huge gain that ultimately results in a momentum and game sealing TD – well that was “magic”. Very Farveesh. Which is who Jameis reminds me of in such situations.
I told whoever was reading even before we drafted Winston that his “scrambling” ability was way under rated. All the haters would constantly berate Jameis for being “slow” – and never watch the FSU tape that showed him to be very effective at sensing pressure, scrambling to buy time and making a play downfield. Also quite effective at running the football to at least gain the needed yards on any given 3rd down or red zone play if no receivers were open.
Jameis is 22 years old. He played 2 years of College football and 1 1/2 years so far in the NFL. And until just last year – he was splitting his time and attention between school, football and baseball. So even though Winston is already a top 10 NFL QB when his teammates are playing their roles properly – there’s still a lot of room for growth and improvement in his game – and his dedication to improve and be great is on display daily for all to see and emulate.
Enjoy the ride Bucs fans – that’s all I can say.
November 16th, 2016 at 2:24 pm
@JOE…I turned the page on Monday due to we have to play at one of the toughest stadiums in the NFL…ARROWHEAD. Nervous about this game, but hopefully with most of the Defense playing we could hopefully get a win.