“For Whatever Reason, They Went Towards Him”
October 27th, 2021
Joe’s not sure if this is just stupidity of a beautiful example of the incredible roster handcrafted by general manager Jason Licht and Bucco Bruce Arians.
Speaking on the official Buccaneers streaming/radio/YouTube show that he joins each week, Arians was asked about filling the role of injured Antonio Brown against the Bears. After all, Brown is a top Tom Brady target and a massive headache for any defense.
Arians’ reply was intriguing.
“I thought Tyler [Johnson] was going to have a little bit bigger role in this one. For whatever reason, [the Bears] went towards him and it opened up Mike [Evans] and Chris [Godwin],” Arians said.
Wow. So the Bears defense, a-top-third-in-the-league unit before the game, had that much respect for second-year man Johnson? He might be the Bucs’ No. 5 receiver when Scotty Miller is healthy.
Either the Bears were downright foolish or they realize just how deep and powerful the Bucs’ roster is. It’s probably a little of both.
October 27th, 2021 at 9:34 am
Probably both.
October 27th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Well just pick your poison with the WR depth on the Bucs, lol and take your beating like a man Chi Town lol
GO BUCS!!!!!!
October 27th, 2021 at 9:42 am
Get the impression TJ has taken Miller’s spot on depth chart (except for some packages were they want his speed). Was looking that way even before he got injured. As to original question… Partially both, but have to think that’s still the quite foolish
October 27th, 2021 at 9:44 am
They did it to screw me in DraftKings. I expected the Bucs to throw to Tyler Johnson more than they did and it turns out my idea was spot on. It didn’t work out for me, that’s all.
October 27th, 2021 at 9:45 am
I was thinking the same thing. I thought the Bears would focus on Mike and Chris and Tyler would be open a lot. Very interesting.
October 27th, 2021 at 9:48 am
Why double ME anymore?
seriously.
October 27th, 2021 at 9:56 am
Sounds like they outsmarted themselves. They must have thought the Bucs would go at Johnson a lot assuming Godwin and Evans would be doubled.
On the deep ball to Evans down the sideline the safety was cheated over towards Johnson I believe. Crazy.
Even so, their defense played very well. The Bucs defense gave themselves a lot of short fields.
They need to do the same thing against the Saints because the Saints have one heck of a defense
October 27th, 2021 at 9:59 am
Robert
Because he’s a real big target that is hard to stop at about a dozen yards and in but he’s sneaky fast getting over the top and is much bigger than most safeties.
He is not as dynamic as some smaller speedy receivers, like brown, but he is on his way to the Hall of Fame.
October 27th, 2021 at 10:10 am
Guess they figured they’d surprise the Bucs… 🙂
October 27th, 2021 at 10:11 am
@David….yes he is big, and he can get the jump balls………those over the top throws though……they are put right in his breadbasket. A mailman would have a hard time not catching them. I would not mention ME and HOF though. That’s kind of funny. Glad he is on our team, but if he wasn’t the size he is he would be useless.
October 27th, 2021 at 10:17 am
If a lot of receivers were smaller or slower, etc. They would become useless. I don’t understand the point of pointing out if a guy wasn’t physically gifted he wouldn’t be an NFL player
October 27th, 2021 at 10:20 am
Johnson has shown flashes when he has gotten the chance. I think he is in for a much bigger role if the Bucs allow Godwin, Brown, eventually Miller, and Watson to leave.
October 27th, 2021 at 10:34 am
For sure Johnson is the 4th receiver. Miller is just a niche WR
October 27th, 2021 at 10:35 am
Evidence that Bears fans are justified in calling for the replacement of this coach and staff!
October 27th, 2021 at 10:38 am
@coburn……….H could run better routes, have better communication and know hot routes, didn’t trip himself. i.e. he should be a HOF if he used his athletic gifts as well as being better prepared.
his size is his gift, not his craft like for others like AB and CG
October 27th, 2021 at 10:40 am
Robert- cant you use the areguement of “if he wasn’t the size he was he would be useless” for a ton of guys in the league?
Him being 6’5 and still having the ability to run past a corner or jump over a corner or have good enough body control to make an acrobatic catch on the sideline and doing all of those things consistently since he came into the league is why he is on pace for the HOF. To think otherwise is just silly.
October 27th, 2021 at 10:52 am
Fun stats for you. He has 3rd most tds of all active players right now, behind only gronk and AB. He is #50 all time on list currently, and on pace to be top 35 by end of season. With 8 years in at the end of this year, that’s HOF pace.
October 27th, 2021 at 11:07 am
Ah ok Robert. You’re saying he could work on his craft more. Fair enough. There are certainly other guys who get by on athletic ability, but it’s important to realize always ways to improve
October 27th, 2021 at 11:08 am
D-Rome – this is for you only because I understand no one cares about anyones fantasy, but same thing happened to me in Fanduel. I was in a $100 entry. I finished 96th out of 1100 people. Not bad! Got me $250 so while not anything thats life changing I atleast doubled my money. In that particular entry anyway. But what screwed me completely over is Tyler Johnsons production. I was 30 points from 1st, which was a 15k payout. Who the hell rolls coverage to Tyler Johnson? Why the GD bears of course, but like me, they also expected (thought) him to have a fairly big day. I didnt expect 9 catches for 155 and 2 TD’s, but 60 yards and a TD wouldve givem me top 10 and a couple of grand. But hey, its like golf. You keep coming back for more
October 27th, 2021 at 1:32 pm
Mike Evans this season is tied for 2nd in TDs, 19th in yards, and 27 of his 37 catches have been for first downs. Considering he’s on a team with 3 #1 WRs and a Hall of Fame TE, what else do you want from the guy?
Anyone who downplays Mike Evans’s ability, desire, or “craft” is a straight up moron.
October 27th, 2021 at 2:08 pm
Brown was only declared Out on Friday IIRC. Definitely questionable but the bears also probably had to choose between sticking with an already prepped game plan which assumed Brown would play and which keyed on certain tendencies – or try to revamp their entire approach they’d spent all week on to do something completely different in less than 48 hrs. I’d assume they chose to stick with their original keys and that’s why Mike and Chris went off.