Freddie Martino hauls in his touchdown catch Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)

When the Bears and John Fox decided that come hell or high water they were not going to get beaten by Mike Evans yesterday, it meant two things:

Either America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, was going to force the ball to Evans with potentially disastrous results, or other receivers were going to find a way to get open to help Jameis.

It was the latter. And to hear Jameis discuss the play of tight end Cameron Brate, the pride of suburban Chicago, Naperville, Ill., and wide receiver Freddie Martino and his Band of Renown, those two came to play thanks to tireless work with Jameis himself.

Brate caught seven passes thrown at him, finishing with 84 yards and a touchdown. He leads the NFL in touchdown catches for a tight end with five (tied with two others). Martino, fresh from the velvet-lined lounge of the Vero Beach Ramada Inn, had a touchdown, too, hauling in a Jameis pass from 43 yards out. It was almost forgotten since it came after Jameis and Evans hooked up on a beautiful backyard football play for the ages.

“Let me tell you about Freddie: If you guys stick after practice, the last person I’m throwing to is Cam Brate and Freddie Martino,” Jameis said. “He’s staying out there, working. You never know when your time is coming. You never know when your time is going to be taken away from you. Take advantage of it.’’

And the duo did. Martino quickly pointed out Jameis and Evans set up his touchdown the play before.

“First, I’ve got to give credit to Mike [Evans] and Jameis for allowing that drive to keep going from that play [before] that Mike caught,” Martino said. “Coach [Koetter] dialed the play up, we were running it in practice a couple times, we kind of knew the looks that we would get in certain situations and I ran my route, broke, I [saw] grass and I looked back and I saw Jameis and he hadn’t thrown it yet. But then I saw him winding up and the ball seemed to be in the air for a long time, and those – the easy catches usually are the ones that you kind of mishandle, but I was very confident and I was ready. I saw it, I grabbed it and made the touchdown.”

It’s good to see undrafted guys who bust their tails like Brate and Martino, a couple of guys no one expected to be in the NFL, shine when they get a chance.

Hey, who would have expected, with all the sick tight ends in the NFL, that Harvard man Brate would lead the league in touchdowns caught through 10 weeks?