New weapons emerge.

Bad teams would throw in the towel after losing two great receivers, who also happen to play in the same offense, in the same game, one for weeks and the other for the season.

And Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen understands why some would think his offense could never recover after losing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to injuries three weeks ago.

But damn it, Coen said yesterday, the Bucs offense still has talented guys that can make clutch plays. So this team isn’t dead yet.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got some good players, too,'” Coen said yesterday at One Buc Palace. “These guys can still compete and win – they have confidence. I need to maybe have a little bit more confidence in some ways, to be a little bit more explosive with some calls, maybe in some ways.

“But yeah, it’s just funny when you’re on the sidelines and [Sterling Shepard] is running up to you yelling at you to throw a ball because he’s got a lot of confidence.

“And you know, in that two-minute drill, we hit him on the corner route on our sideline, and that was after a stoppage of clock, and he runs over and he’s like, ‘I can toast them.’ And I said, ‘Alright, let’s go,’ and I called the play for him in the moment to win.”

Shepard is balling and his enthusiasm for the game is rubbing off on teammates, Coen noted. “He’s infectious, you know, in the way that he’s playing.”

Evans is expected to come back, perhaps Nov. 24 against the Giants in New Jersey, the first game after the bye week.

It’s great that Bucs skill position players are so confident and eager to make plays. As down as this team was after that Baltimore beatdown, in which Evans and Godwin were lost, the Bucs needed someone like Shepard to infuse life back into the roster.

Ira Kaufman Talks Fan Disenchantment, The 2-Point Saga, Expectations, Liam Coen, And More