“That’s When You Know You Have A Great Receiver”
July 21st, 2017
National discussion
A Hall of Fame receiver was talking Bucs and Mike Evans today.
What started as a fantasy football take on SiriusXM NFL Radio blossomed into real football chatter.
Mike Keith, the Titans’ play-by-play man was co-hosting with legendary James Lofton, the human explosive play. (Six times in his career Lofton averaged 20 yards or more per reception in a season. For a little perspective, Jerry Rice did that once. Randy Moss never pulled it off. Very old school deep threat, Hall of Famer Bob Hayes (1965-1975) did it four times. DeSean Jackson, the active leader in yards per reception, has done it twice.)
Keith was saying he believes the nation full of fantasy football players knows very well what a stud Mike Evans is. But Keith thinks the typical football — aka real football — fan is ignorant of Evans’ greatness nationwide.
The presence of Jackson, Keith believes, will make Evans a into a high-octane, revered superstar.
Lofton almost waved off that notion, emphasizing that Evans does such a great job catching the ball when he is covered. “And that’s when you know you have a great receiver,” Lofton said.
High praise right there.
Joe thinks Lofton and Keith are both spot on. Joe legitimately thinks Evans could flirt with becoming the first 2,000-yard-a-season receiver in NFL history this year. Joe suspects the Bucs will continue to pound the ball to Evans like they did last year. But this time, he’ll have more 1-on-1 coverage.
July 21st, 2017 at 11:57 pm
I dunno about 2000 this year. D jax is new to team and needs to build chemistry before they will 100% respect him. Same with howard. I think the first 4-6 games will be a lot of taking the wide open guy (oj, hump, jax, brate). Then teams will have to quit running hard doubles and triples on evans and he will be more open.
July 22nd, 2017 at 12:16 am
OMGJFC…2000 yards? It will happen, but I have never thought of that before!
July 22nd, 2017 at 1:10 am
2K? I highly, highly, highly doubt it … Jameis has a ton of weapons now so it wouldn’t shock me to see Evans numbers decline this year while Jameis’ numbers explode …
July 22nd, 2017 at 5:59 am
Joe,
Just a little perspective on your point about players who were explosive at the WR position. Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield had 7 consecutive seasons where he averaged 20+ yards per catch. He finished his 13 yr career averaging more than 20 yds per catch. If he played in the pass-friendly offensive systems of today’s NFL, his #’s would easily rival Jerry Rice’s. He caught a TD every 4.5 receptions. Awesome player!
Well, Joe wasn’t going to type up all of the all-time greats.–Joe
July 22nd, 2017 at 6:21 am
I rather see a well spread ball among receivers, running backs and tight ends.
Let me see a receiver and tight end with 1k each. And you can add a running back with 500 yds receiving too.
I really want to see an offense that causes nightmares to opposing DCs.
I want an offense that when facing 8 men on the box will equal an explosive play for us!
Go Bucs!!!
July 22nd, 2017 at 7:17 am
More realistic is Evans gets ~1600 Yards ~16 ypc and 14 TD. Too many targets for Evans or anyone on that team to get to 2k.
I’d be happy with and realistically expect:
Evans 1200 yds 12 TD
Jackson 900 Yds 6 TD
Howard 600 yds 7 TD
Brate 550 yds 10 TD
Humphries 450 yds 2 TD
RB’s 600 yds 4 TD
Total ~4300 yds ~40 TD
What Fantasy players would like:
Evans 1600 yds 14 TD
Jackson 1200 Yds 10 TD
Howard 900 yds 12 TD
Brate 550 yds 10 TD
Humphries 450 yds 2 TD
RB’s 600 yds 4 TD
Total ~5300 yds ~52 TD
What Madden NFL Gamers want:
Evans 2100 yds 20 TD
Jackson 1800 Yds 15 TD
Howard 1300 yds 17 TD
Brate 1000 yds 15 TD
Humphries 800 yds 6 TD
RB’s 800 yds 8 TD
Total ~7800 yds ~81 TD
And in other news, there is a first new aircraft carrier class being built.
O.J. Simpson (a.k.a. The Juice) will be spilling out of prison on October 1.
Linkin Park cancels tour. RIP Chester Bennington.
July 22nd, 2017 at 10:18 am
I’m really curious how Desean affects the offense. I know he has the speed to get deep but I wonder if teams will respect Jameis’s ability to throw the deep ball. If he doesn’t prove he can do it consistently, then it doesn’t matter how fast Jackson is.
July 22nd, 2017 at 11:26 am
Chris
whats going to happen and is that everyone will realize how difficult it actually was to throw deep to ME
When Deseans initial contact at the LOS, there is clear visible separation and no more strong contact till catch point….
while ME is going downfield mugging and pulling with the cornerback throughout the route
at FSU there was no problem with the deep ball actually the deep throws to shepard and louis murphy wasnt that bad
Whats going to be interesting is MEs new routes he might have to run when Djax is in the 3rd level deep
ME will be running more 10-15 yarders in the middle zone/ 2nd level. Kobe is not a fan of his terrible route running skillset…it sucks
ME for 6 5 guy is the least physical receiver in the league.
You will see a big man running crisp routes and create separation and everyone will know the huge difference ….OJ Howard
July 22nd, 2017 at 12:01 pm
To be honest I don’t know if I WANT a 2000 yard WR or an RB hitting that number on the ground.
At the end of the day the best offenses have some balance and that’s not any ONE player getting 2,000.
If we reach the numbers posted by Long Season this team will totally rule on offense!!!
I think Koetter and obviouly #3 are the straws that stir the drink and both of them are going to spread the ball around…Koetter is certainly familiar with taking what the defense gives him…that’s what I hope #3 figures out big time this year. There is simply no way D’s can cover ALL of these weapons. Proper play calling and discipline by #3 will be what I foresee.
July 22nd, 2017 at 12:35 pm
‘The Tampa offense will only become lethal and playoff winning level is when Chris Godwin is on the field fulltime”
Kobe Faker
July 23rd, 2017 at 6:36 am
How many times did Joe Montana have the leading receiver or leading rusher in the NFL? How many times did Joe Montana throw for +4,000 yards or lead the league in passing yards?
Ask the same questions of Terry Bradshaw.
Passing yards are no inflated. It used to be 2,000 yard per season was the benchmark of the great Quarterbacks. There weren’t many 1,000 yard receiving seasons. Then 3,000 yards became the benchmark. Now 4,000 yard is like 3,000 yards used to be. It is the new benchmark of the upper level of Quarterback play.
The same is true for completion percentage. It used to be 55%, then 60% and now it is 65%.
As for Receivers, it used to be 800 yards, then 1,000 yards and now it is 1,500 yards.
It is preferable to have enough good targets that no one player will lead the league in receiving because it means teams cannot take one guy out and they shut the offense down. On paper, double Evans and Jackson leaving Brate or Howard, and Humphries or Goodwin open versus one-on-one coverage underneath against linebackers. Someone is going to win against the defense. If you try to shutdown the underneath passes then you have to leave Jackson man-to-man deep. Who wins that? Jackson most of the time. Stop Jackson with double coverage and try to stop the underneath stuff then Evans gets man and he beats that a lot of the time. Evans can even beat double coverage.
The running game will benefit. Here I prefer to have a 1,500 yard rusher who contributes in the passing game. Have another back who adds 500 to 600 yards and you have a running game.
Offensive line will be key. How does Ali perform at center? Is JR Sweezey a beast at guard? How will Phamphile and Smith progress on the left side? Will Dotson be able to come back, stay healthy and perform well as Right Tackle?
I do expect this to be a fun season.