Bruce Arians: “Mike’s Back To Full Speed”
November 4th, 2020
Looking for a rousing second half of the season from Mike Evans?
Joe is. And it’s a lot more likely now than it was a week ago.
Bucco Bruce Arians declared Evans past his ankle and hamstring injuries yesterday.
First, he told virtually assembled media that Thursday was a turning point with Evans making hard cuts on his healing ankle in practice that Arians hadn’t seen in weeks.
Then the head coach told Bucs Total Access what fans have been yearning to hear.
“Mike’s back to full speed and it showed in this ballgame,” Arians said. “We had him open a bunch of times and we just didn’t get it to him, but you know, we threw it some other places.”
Arians went on to say Evans did a strong job against one of his rival cornerbacks, James Bradberry, and the Bucs moved Evans inside quite a bit because they didn’t think Bradberry would follow him there.
This is all fantastic news. Now Joe wants to see the deep shots return to Evans against New Orleans.
November 4th, 2020 at 5:23 am
Great news ! Any information on Godwin’s condition Joe?
November 4th, 2020 at 6:27 am
It will be a statement if the Bucs can put a beating in the Saints
November 4th, 2020 at 6:40 am
Something’s off in this offense Joe, and it’s not because of Mike Evans’ recent injuries. Brady’s been throwing the ball A BUNCH, Mike’s been on the field A BUNCH, he has a higher percentage of catches than in any past season, BUT … he’s not getting the ball. Nice to say ‘It’s because opponents are keying on him’, but opponents have ALWAYS keyed on him.
In his first 6 seasons (90 games), all but one of those seasons with Jameis as his QB, Mike was targeted 835 times (9.3 targets/game average) and caught 462 of those (5.1 catches per game). IOW he was targeted 139 times/season & caught 77 of those, for 55.4% average. He averaged 1,231 yds/season over those 6 years, with obviously LOTS of deep balls in there …
This season, with Tom Brady at the helm, Mike’s only been targeted 46 times in 8 games, but has 30 catches (65.2% … a full 10% higher than his career average). Not only is his yards/game down (80.7 YPG in his career vs 46.6 YPG this year), but so is his average yards/catch (15.7 YPC in his career vs 12.4 YPC this year). Apparently the deep balls aren’t nearly as deep and/or he’s not getting as many of them thrown his way?
No doubt in my mind that BA & BL are using the deep ball differently this year. In the Giants game for instance, Brady threw deep 11 times (only 1 of those to ME13), and completed 4 of those. But if you break those down by quarter, here’s what you see …
Qtr 1 … 4 deep, 1 complete.
Qtr 2 … 1 deep, 0 complete
Qtr 3 … 2 deep, 0 complete
Qtr 4 … 4 deep, 3 complete
If you break those deep balls down by position group, RBs weren’t targeted deep (understandable), WRs were targeted 8 times (caught 2), and TEs were targeted 3 times (caught 2). Mickens had 3 deep balls thrown his way … caught 0. Miller had 3 deep balls thrown to him … caught 1. Johnson had 1 deep ball thrown to him … caught 1.
Yup, bring on Antonio Brown.
November 4th, 2020 at 6:58 am
That is very good news.
November 4th, 2020 at 7:00 am
I cant understand the reason Jayden Mickens started over Tyler Johnson. Mickens can’t compare to Tyler’s performance throughout the season. Tyler can block, catch, and is good with YAC. Also, as I watched Scotty, he plays timid and scared,he’s only a one dimensional player. I say put in Evans, Godwin, AB, and Tyler Johnson and we score a td each possession. I know RoJo fumbled but the more you give him the ball, the more his confidence level is elevated, and he improves as the game goes on. I’m tired of Fournette and his stutter step moves for 0-1 yards. Feed RoJo the ball!
November 4th, 2020 at 7:11 am
Great news, and I want some of you to spare me the BS that it’s “just Brady spreading the ball around brah.” Give me a break. Superstar players forever and always put you in far better position to win. Superstar receivers get looks, don’t give me this double team business. Didn’t stop Terrell Owens, didn’t stop Brady throwing to Randy Moss. Brady isn’t all like: “hmmm you know what I think I’d rather throw to Jaydon Mickens instead.” Simply put when Godwin is in the offense all of a sudden turns in to the 2007 patriots. No coincidence. If Evans is 100% now then it’s time for him to make that kind of impact. I can also foresee the touchdown comments. To that I say that you know damn well the offense is stagnant without Godwin. Between the 20s is important. Big plays are important. Getting first downs is important. Watch Antonio Brown step right in and get 5-7 catches Sunday night
November 4th, 2020 at 7:17 am
Joe it’s November and we aren’t talking draft. Something to be said about that. 😎
November 4th, 2020 at 7:48 am
BS….
November 4th, 2020 at 7:54 am
Evans hasn’t been near 100%. He get’s a bye after this week, so no set backs he should be good to go for the playoff run. Going to be interesting seeing Mike, and A.B. on the field together. N.O. has always given Mike a hard time. Lets see if A.B. helps take the pressure off him. I’d bet Mike’s glad he’s here.
November 4th, 2020 at 7:59 am
DR: Brady is not forcing the ball to Evans as the last knucklehead did.
Far fewer jump balls for Evans.
November 4th, 2020 at 8:10 am
That’s for sure Cobraboy. What I like is that his catch percentage is up so much (10% is huge IMO).
November 4th, 2020 at 9:29 am
“Now Joe wants to see the deep shots return to Evans against New Orleans.”
.
.
Given Mike’s history against the Aints, it might be another week before he breaks out.
November 4th, 2020 at 9:43 am
When Evans has big games against the Saints the Bucs win. When he doesn’t, the Bucs get beat down
November 4th, 2020 at 11:06 am
good to hear ME13 is back….
now lets get it done vs lattimore…
GO BUCS!!!!
November 4th, 2020 at 11:34 am
A little nervous Brady forces the ball to AB in this game.
November 4th, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Good news.
Hopefully he starts getting another 2 – 3 targets per game (hopefully some long balls too)
November 4th, 2020 at 1:06 pm
If Evans is not at least 80% perhaps he can finally be rested. I miss the productively he could muster. Maybe Brady can utilize him more by throwing him a couple of jump balls which he excels at. We need him to be ball out for our playoff run.
November 5th, 2020 at 2:34 pm
Mike has been banged up and still played..he was open a lot but i see brady dumping the ball to backs a lot which im ok.with it frustrates defenses and wears them down. Winning is most important but i lile to see Mike get more targets in play action scenarios. I feel like everytime he catches he acts injured so it good to lower his work load.