Don’t Blame Jameis
June 14th, 2018
Not his fault.
It seems some folks want to nitpick at Mike Evans.
The stud Bucs receiver is the best this team has ever had. Yet some point to his YAC as terrible. Joe cannot argue that but it’s like moaning the length of Kate Upton’s blonde mane is an inch too long.
Some, especially the avowed haters of America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, try to point a finger at the Bucs signal-caller as the source of Evans’ poor YAC.
The gang at FootballOutsiders.com believes this is pure unadulterated nonsense. In particular, Scott Kacsmar suggests those blaming Jameis are just flat out wrong.
Finally, we have the case of Mike Evans in Tampa Bay. After ranking dead-last in YAC+ (-1.9) in 2016, he was saved … to finish next to last in 2017 at -2.0, a career low. This really isn’t a Jameis Winston accuracy issue. You can see that rookie Chris Godwin (+0.8) finished 12th and Adam Humphries was No. 2 in 2016 while playing with Winston. This is more about usage as Thomas Bassinger reviewed recently for Tampa Bay Times. Evans often takes advantage of his size and catch radius, but he could still use some more YAC from time to time. Will that change ever come? Well, if a gifted player like Antonio Brown is still giving us the same results in this area after eight years, then maybe it is wise to keep asking a player to do what he does best instead of trying to do something different, but not as well.
Again, Evans is the best receiver this franchise has ever had, yeah, that includes Vincent Jackson who was fantastic.
In Joe’s eyes, there is no need to fix what is not broken. Joe was speaking to a college offensive coordinator Saturday night. Joe mentioned how some harp on Evans for his YAC. This coach told Joe that Evans is more of a possession receiver and not a burner like Antonio Brown, thus lots of YAC from Evans would be icing on the cake.
June 14th, 2018 at 2:28 am
“… maybe it is wise to keep asking a player to do what he does best instead of trying to do something different…”
We’ve been over this. It seems that Mike sometimes has a habit of going down to protect his body, but consider defenses haven’t had a running threat to consider, coverage is usually rolled his way, and he is often at the back line or sideline using his size and wingspan to beat defenders.
This, to me, is a non-issue. If our OL and backfield start bringing a run threat, the middle will open up more. Even if this makes no difference on his YAC, he has consistently been a first-down machine. As long as he knows where the sticks are, I am a happy fan.
June 14th, 2018 at 4:50 am
This feels like one of those ‘Say what?’ pieces to me Joe. YAC+ has me baffled starting with its’ very definition: ‘YAC+ is similar to plus-minus; it estimates how much YAC a receiver gained compared to what we would have expected from an AVERAGE RECEIVER catching passes of similar length in similar down-and-distance situations. This is imperfect due to variations in YAC stemming from the routes the receivers run, but it does a fairly good job of telling you if this receiver gets more or less YAC than other receivers with similar usage patterns.’
The 2 fallacies seem to be that (1) someone (?) is deciding what an AVERAGE RECEIVER is; and (2) play calls (routes run). Comparing Godwin & ME13 is kinda silly IMO (very much different types of receivers). Both are simply running routes they’re being asked to run in various game situations. Much the same as Jameis executing plays he’s told to run (with the obvious exception that sometimes Jameis goes rogue).
More interesting in their analysis is what the Bucs’ TEs did in 2017 in YAC+. OJ ranked in the Top-10… a very respectable #9 in the NFL (+1.5 YAC+) … while Brate was near the bottom at #42 in the list (-1.2 YAC+). Cam had some pretty good company near the bottom though (guys like Zach Ertz, Antonio Gates, Delanie Walker & Jason Witten). Thus not sure what this whole thing told me.
June 14th, 2018 at 6:07 am
Evans is not the type of athlete to get you YAC. He pulled it off in college, but he is no Randy Moss. He lacks that burst and agility to make it happen. What he is though is a great possession receiver and route runner with great catch radius. I agree with the analysis. Don’t try to get more YAC out of Evans, it wont do much good.
June 14th, 2018 at 6:18 am
Best possession receiver in the game. Nothing wrong with that. This is way more about his usage within Koetter’s scheme. The route tree that he uses doesn’t equal YAC and that’s ok. He makes his living in traffic.
June 14th, 2018 at 6:19 am
They need to run more slants….he never runs slants. Jameis also needs to get better at hitting guys in strife to help with the yards after the catch.
biggest problem still remains the defense
June 14th, 2018 at 6:59 am
More concerning to me is the yards per catch average,which has declined the last two years. Evans had a yards per catch of 16 yards previously and it sank
fourteen last year.
IMO, Evans is a tweener , he has been used the last few years almost exclusively to get the
much needed first down . He is also more than capable of catching passes in
25 to 40 yards range,which would in IMO is more than a just a possession receiver.
June 14th, 2018 at 7:01 am
Mike Evans is never, ever truly open…..he always has someone on him. Unless there is a missed tackle….he won’t get YAC…..he also is the target of many out routes….hard to get YAC when you’re headed out of bounds.
June 14th, 2018 at 7:10 am
I didn’t know Kate Upton had blonde hair.
June 14th, 2018 at 7:16 am
Defense Rules,
I thought YAC meant Yards After Catch?
If that is the case, it seems pretty simple. How many yards were gained after each catch, averaged out for each player. Then compared to all players to find a median.
There is nothing subjective about that. If a player makes a catch on the 20 yard line and is taken down on the thirty, he had 10 yards after that catch.
Simple and factual. Not subjective. Except for penalties, which erase plays the can add or subtract from the totals.
Am I wrong?
June 14th, 2018 at 8:23 am
Bonzai, I thought YAC meant the same thing that you do. But that guy is talking about YAC+ (not sure about the usefulness of that puppy). This thing about comparing one player’s results against the AVERAGE PLAYER running similar plays sounded like they were grasping at straws to prove a point (what the point was I’m still unsure).
June 14th, 2018 at 8:45 am
@BucEmUp … “biggest problem still remains the defense.” And you know that how? Last 2 years Smitty & company were given marginal performers to work with on defense. A number of 2016 & 2017 starters aren’t even in football any longer. And yet the Bucs’ defense ranked #15 in POINTS ALLOWED in 2016 and #22 in 2017 in the NFL. That’s an average of 18.5 ranking over the 2 years (Bucs offense ranked #18 in both years in POINTS SCORED before you ask).
This year Licht finally focused on defense, beefing up the DLine & drafting several promising rookies for the Secondary. Lots of room for improvement obviously, but getting so many new pieces to gel in this defense will be a monumental task. Personally I think Smitty & company are up to the challenge and that we’ll see some major improvement in the Bucs defense this year despite a ballbuster schedule. I remain ‘cautiously optimistic’ (like so many other JBFers).
June 14th, 2018 at 9:08 am
stop nitpicking…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!
June 14th, 2018 at 10:02 am
The Sheep is still viewing the Bucs through Kluess rose colored bifocals
We need to change and remove Klueless from his flawed scheme and playcalling because Kobe sees only bad injuries coming to our franchise QB under Klueless
Klueless predicatable long time developing plays makes defenses salivate in crushing JW3 on 2nd/3rd and long
Does the sheep think JW3 shoulder injury was a 1 time event? actually the hits JW3 occurred since the 1st game of his career, he was very lucky he didnt get smashed before.
Does the sheep think JW3 will not get reinjuryed under Klueless offense and playcalling. defenses know the weakness of this offense. Kill the head and the body will die. What makes you think JW3 will survive 16 games?….
He wont. no QB would
Kobe Faker
June 14th, 2018 at 11:20 am
Kate Upton could have hair down to her ankles, and it wouldn’t bother me one bit. Now short hair on the other hand… no thank you.
June 14th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
unbelievable- She could be bald and I wouldn’t care. I almost got knocked out by my wife last night. She wanted to watch “The Other Woman”, of which Kate is in. In true knucklehead fashion, I made a comment about her with my wife sitting next to me. If not for cat-like reflexes, I’d have a knot on my head the size of her fist!!! LOL!
June 14th, 2018 at 1:32 pm
Mike Evans cost us a win last year. Got his hands on three balls in the end zone and came away with zero TDs.
All were tough plays but he is supposed to be our playmaker and win us that game not lose it for us. He’s off the hook just because we finished with 5 wins but we might need that win next year.