Better With Baker?
September 18th, 2023
Mike Evans is 763 yards from another 1,000-yard season with 15 games to play.
Raise your hand if you think he won’t get there.
Joe has no doubt, if Evans stays relatively healthy. A big reason is targets. Every receiver needs them and Evans has averaged 8.6 per game through his NFL career. However, Evans averaged 7.4 targets per game when Tom Brady was quarterback.
Early evidence shows Evans will be back to normal this season. Through two games with Baker Mayfield, Evans has averaged 9 targets per game.
He’s also caught two-thirds of those targets with two drops mixed in. So it’s clear that Evans’ is on the same page with Mayfield even if his hands failed him a couple of times.
Joe suspects Evans will continue to be fed the football. Playcaller Dave Canales is no fool, and Mayfield is smart enough — and ballsy enough — to test the limits of Evans’ massive catch radius.
Could 2023 be Evans’ best season? Joe can’t go that far. But it’s going to be damn hard to keep Evans from his fifth Pro Bowl if the Bucs keep throwing him the ball.
September 18th, 2023 at 7:54 am
Didn’t see any 5 yard dink and dunk yesterday
September 18th, 2023 at 7:56 am
Just throw Mike the damn ball , because even when he is covered Mike is open.
September 18th, 2023 at 7:59 am
Give it to Mikey, He likes It!
September 18th, 2023 at 8:04 am
it’s only 2 games in, but it seems baker is believing in mike more than tommy b did…
also 2 weeks from now it’s once again the mike evans vs marshon lattimore match up….
but this time with a baker cookin’ in the pot
September 18th, 2023 at 8:06 am
Brady didn’t like throwing to Mike because Mike was usually covered….Brady doesn’t like 50-50 odds.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:07 am
mike very well could have his 1,000 yards after 10-12 games this year
September 18th, 2023 at 8:10 am
If Mike is covered he is 80-20 in favor of Mike.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:10 am
^^^
yep, baker is throwing those balls to mike that tom never threw his way…
which could bump mike’s numbers up 250 – 350 yards by the end of the season
September 18th, 2023 at 8:32 am
NE Fan is about to get her panties in a wad reading this headline.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:39 am
Don’t forget Godwin. What a 1, 2 punch!
September 18th, 2023 at 8:40 am
Way too early, but if M1K3 can keep this pace, several single season records are in play.
Yardage – 1964 – Calvin Johnson
Receptions – 145 – Cooper Kupp
TD’s – 23 – Randy Moss
Pull off the trifecta and there would be no more dissent on his eligibility for a gold jacket.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:43 am
So far the Baker Evans connection looks elite
September 18th, 2023 at 8:43 am
Brady had AB (#1 wr) & Gronk. He spreads the wealth. You all forget BL had him running blocking routes last season. Brady usually throws to spot where receivers should be Mike always had a problem with that, he tries to muscle through his receptions like his clear PUSH OFF yesterday. Can’t wait to hear the rebuttals on that one.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:48 am
Our WR’s are looking good.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:48 am
NE Fan, what do you think about Tyreek Hill saying the New England Patriots have the worst Fanbase in the NFL?
September 18th, 2023 at 8:54 am
For the first two years we had Brady, he had the luxury of throwing to Gronk and Antonio Brown, as well as Godwin and Evans. He could spread the ball around. Baker does not have that luxury, so I would expect him to throw more to his studs, which means Evans will get a more targets.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:56 am
It was a lot of fun watching Bill belichick coach essentially the 1995 Cleveland browns last night. That’s what you have to look forward to Patriots fans, until he retires. The 91 to 95 Browns.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:57 am
We’re seeing that strange as it is to say, yes, one of last year’s problems was Brady. At 45, he just didn’t want to get hit the way we saw Rodgers get hit in Week 1, and so he threw the ball too early on average.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:57 am
Not much Hill is assaults children and women, he should be in jail at best out of the league. Hey at least NE Fan base aren’t mongrels!
September 18th, 2023 at 9:00 am
Hall of Fame, hope the bucs pay ME13 and hope that he is a lifelong buc; probably end up in Houston next year
September 18th, 2023 at 9:03 am
Hahahaha oh NE Fan it’s OK, at least Bill can throw a challenge flag harder than Mac Jones can throw a football. And yes, the NE Fan base are definitely mongrels. And not the loveable kind like the Eagles
September 18th, 2023 at 9:15 am
Not sure how many of you watched last night’s game in its entirety, the nursing homes probably shut the TV’s down at 9. Have you seen Bowels come up with a new way to block field goals? And sorry for the Pat’s to keep it close against that Miami team gives them credibility in my eyes. Dolphins are fast and very good. If they stay healthy it’s going to be tough for any team to knock them off. To answer one of your questions? Absolutely I would rather have Mayfield over Mac Jones. Along with many other average QB’s in the league, he SUCKS and Belichick knows it. Kraft is pulling the strings on that one ever since Belichick forced Brady out of town.
September 18th, 2023 at 9:18 am
He was really sensational to watch yesterday.
September 18th, 2023 at 9:24 am
ME had a good game. he is now 1 good game and 1 bad game.
congrats to ME!
September 18th, 2023 at 9:28 am
KC Buc … LMAO 🤣
September 18th, 2023 at 9:37 am
FYI, Tyreek Hill went 5 recpt. for 40yds last night. He’s a little bitter.
September 18th, 2023 at 10:00 am
ME13 > Tyreek Hill
September 18th, 2023 at 10:00 am
Why wouldn’t NE fans be the worst of fans when thier players are murders
September 18th, 2023 at 10:17 am
Well, well, well, Fish beat Pats and Belicheat threw a fit on the sidelines. Only time I pull for Miami is when they play the Pats. Get lost, NE Fan. Oh, one more game win and Bucs are 3-0 (hopefully). You gonna get lost then? I doubt it.
September 18th, 2023 at 10:21 am
NE fan, when Tyreek Hill was with the Chiefs and played New England the fan threw beer at him after he scored ,and one fan was arrested, so yeah, I’d say he’s a little bitter
September 18th, 2023 at 10:26 am
Bucfan@ at least they get punished for their crimes. I am sure all current and past Bucs are chior boys. Is there anyone on this site that understands football that saw last night’s game? Belichick’s game plan was to not give up the long ball and get Miami in their red zone to keep them to a FG. For most of the game it worked same as Eagles game. What he didn’t account for was Mostert scampering for a 32yd td and Jones throwing a horrible int near end of the game. They lost by 1 score. Whereas at the 3+ minute mark of the Bucs many of you were screaming the sky is falling. If not for Shaq (a great player) things could have turned out differently. Coaching matters but in almost all cases talent wins out. I don’t want the Bucs to lose, that would be a great story but your coach will eventually destroy this teams hopes down the road. For all you whiners about Brady not being invested last season remember he did NOT want to play his final season with the Bucs, he was forced to. For those that unfortunately are told they have to shovel shat from time to time know how lack of motivation means. Brady was forced to shovel shat!!!
September 18th, 2023 at 10:28 am
At the moment. He can elude rushers better than Trask could and that will be important for a while.
The O-line is pretty good now, but will get better, barring injury, and should be really good later in the season.
Then if Baker falters, we can see if Trask is as capable as in my opinion. If Baker brings the team through the season we will probably see Trask become a hero somewhere else.
September 18th, 2023 at 10:30 am
#99, Hill is a dirt bag. He broke his 3 yr olds son and beat up on his girlfriend and the NFL did nothing because he sells tickets. If you’re Adrien Peterson or Ray Rice or Hunt, how do you feel about that? Go to a game in Philly or Buffalo then we can talk about nasty fans.
September 18th, 2023 at 10:31 am
Mike Evans had a great game – 6 catches for 171 yards and one TD.
He earned his $23-$25 MILLION per season contract this week.
WEEK ONE – NO
WEEK TWO – YES
WEEK THREE – ?
September 18th, 2023 at 10:39 am
I think ME”s lack of targets during 20-21 was more so due to the other weapons in Gronk/AB/etc soaking up a lot of targets.
Then in 22 it was the offense/o-line keeping us from taking as many shots.
This has been a really fun offense to watch. I don’t know what we’re going to do on any given 1st or 3rd down which is a nice change of pace. The 3rd down run for a TD was ballsy but I liked it because I had a feeling it was done knowing we’d be going for it on 4th if we didn’t get it
September 18th, 2023 at 10:53 am
Of course Boston fans are a-holes. They always have been. A great sports town.
September 18th, 2023 at 10:54 am
NEFan
I thought you were gone. Well this series of post at least tried to present “facts” if a bit slanted.
Let’s start with the head coach. Belichik is perhaps the greatest DC of all time which enabled the GOAT to get all of his wins. But without Brady BB is mediocre as an HC at best.
In five years in Cleveland he was an abject LOSER…a .450 win %
He goes to NE and continues to LOSE 7-9 then comes Brady and all of BB’s success. Brady leaves and again BB is EXPOSED. He’s struggled to reach .500 at 25-25 and this year could see him once again drop below .500 ala his time with the Browns and the first season at N.E.
Brady OTOH obviously did NOT depend on BB. He wins a SB his first year and with Todd Bowles as his DC. IE the Bucs defense was good!!!
IMHO this solidifies Brady’s spot as the GOAT. AGAIN 2 thinks can be true at the same time. Brady could have started out as a long lanky 6th round draft pick who appreciated his good fortune and still finished as a self centered arrogant arse who really didn’t care about his teammates by the final year.
He bailed on them before the season, he bailed on them during the season for a freaking birthday party for Kraft. Worst of all he played at least one season too long!
Now he’s a Patriot for life. Good riddance Tommy don’t let the cannon ball hit you in the arse on the way out!
September 18th, 2023 at 11:00 am
@Marine Buc
Come on my friend!!
ME13 is a model of consistency, what else should he do????
The only concern is for how long the gustanteed money will go? 2 years, maybe that´s what makes sense.
September 18th, 2023 at 11:08 am
Brady made this team believe in itself. Now this team has established a winning tradition and Brady did his job. He got us our 2nd Super Bowl. Now we know how to win. But I will wait and see how we fare against the iggles on Monday night before talking about a Super Bowl this year
September 18th, 2023 at 11:09 am
stp@ facts, you missed Belichick’s success and SB while at NYG. Fact, Brady retired because he did NOT want to play his final season with the Bucs. He was FORCED to or don’t play. His 3rd year extention was to spread out his cap to help secure talented players, he’s done this his entire career. Fact, BA said we will let him go for 5 1st round draft picks, in other words you aren’t going anywhere. Fact, BA quits on the team and sticks Brady with the clown posey of coaching staffs and a GM that won’t throw money at a dismantled oline, knowing Brady is a drop back non mobile QB. Fact he doesn’t play for the money, he has money he plays to win, he was put in the ultimate losing situation under the guy who likely cost him his 8th SB. If he threw the finger up at the Bucs can’t say I blame him. Not ONE of.his teammates in 23 yrs said he didn’t have their backs. FACT!!!
September 18th, 2023 at 11:15 am
NE fan, I will give you one thing you are a very passionate Brady and New England fan, but what I don’t get is Brady’s gone ,your patriots are losing ,the Bucs are winning and you’re on our site finding fault in the bucs.. why are you not on a patriots fan site?
September 18th, 2023 at 11:16 am
NE fan, 8 days…..
September 18th, 2023 at 11:25 am
Brady was too risk averse to throw the 50/50 ball. Last season none of our receivers were able to get open in 2 seconds, so Brady didnt throw to them. Explains why we were so horrible in the red zone last season. Brady didnt even have the heart or the physical ability to buy an extra second or two in the pocket.
September 18th, 2023 at 11:39 am
Duane how is the endzone O doing now? From what I’m hearing, pretty much the same.
September 18th, 2023 at 11:56 am
Baker is playing with house money. Everyone had already counted him out. Now he is hot with zero turnovers and playing very free and loose. He is a gamer with a big arm. I was among those calling for Trask earlier but I can definitely see now what the coaches were seeing in Mayfield. And I didn’t let it keep me from ponying up the dough and going to the game even though it was probably over a 100 degrees on the field yesterday. Go Bucs!!
September 18th, 2023 at 11:58 am
P.S. Don’t feed the trolls!
September 18th, 2023 at 12:13 pm
Evans didn’t push off the db made illegal contact before the pass got there and Mike gave him a nice little elbow shove so it canceled out. Not Mike’s fault his contact caused dude to lose his footing
September 18th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
me fan says he doesn’t watch the bucs games , but he can tell you everything that happened in the game
September 18th, 2023 at 12:30 pm
No one forced Brady to suit up one last season, he could have stayed retired and likely married. No one forced him to take a 2 week sabbatical over training camp or attend massage-loving Kraft’s wedding. He made decisions like everyone else does and has to live with those. If he wanted to play for the 49ers, maybe he shouldn’t have signed the contract with a 3rd year. That’s the price he paid to help the Bucs go all-in and pay for Gronk, AB, and others. Seems like he got another ring out of it, so he should be satisfied. If anything, it’s starting to look like the rest of this roster was forced to shovel his shat last year…
September 18th, 2023 at 1:34 pm
David@ you are bias.
September 18th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
@ ZZ
“The only concern is for how long the gustanteed money will go? 2 years, maybe that´s what makes sense.”
I agree.
3 years – @ $70M with $40M guaranteed – put most of the $40M in the first 2 years…
I hope ME13 can continue playing at a high level like he did this past Sunday.
September 18th, 2023 at 3:20 pm
Ne fans lie, numbers don’t.
September 18th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
N.E.
I SAID…BB may be the greatest DC ever! Yes he was instrumental in helping the Giants as a DC! And yes those DC skills certainly helped Brady secure his SB’s but clearly he didn’t need BB as he proved himself his first year after he left.
Again for those upset at my Brady takes remember two things can be true at the same time. Brady could have been a totally class act, a genuinely modest superstar but he COULD have also been tainted by that very success. That’s just my take and it wouldn’t be the first time a guy’s success has gone to his head.
As far why he stayed here the 3rd year…it’s irrelevant. He would have failed wherever he went..he was OVER THE HILL!! Would going to a different team than the Bucs saved his family? His major distractions? He’s just got a lot of irons $$$ in the fire right now. Great for him, I do not begrudge him that. But I do begrudge the effort he turned in last year with the Bucs.
Again TWO things can be true at the same time! We can all love him for what he did the first year here. BTW the Bucs GAVE him the opportunity to win that SB with a solid team and great coach. And we can also resent his lack of committment, loyalty, whatever last year. Family is critical I get that but all of that should have been sorted out before July 4th. He could have that entire month to work on his doomed marriage.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:48 pm
Looks like the browns are missing baker about now
September 19th, 2023 at 12:30 am
Trask was always trade bait and Baker haters will ride that sinking ship no matter what
September 19th, 2023 at 4:36 am
Mike is just doing what he does. HOF player and showing everyone why. Class dude on top of it and proving that as well.
Go Bucs!