Todd Bowles Did Not Like How Mike Evans Was Not Used
September 23rd, 2024
Underutilized.
Sounds as if last night and this morning, staff meetings with Todd Bowles were not much fun.
Joe noticed during Bowles’ postgame remarks that he was not a happy camper when asked about various elements of the offense. One was (it seems) finding a way to get Bucky Irving more running attempts.
The other was almost ignoring future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans?
Bowles scoffed at the notion that talented Broncos corner Pat Surtain took out Evans.
“He’s a good player but there’s good corners every week,” Bowles countered. “We have to get him involved early. We have to have a better plan for him, and we have to get him the ball.”
No argument from Joe there. Evans was only targeted three times (!) catching two Baker Mayfield passes for 17 yards. So basically, Evans was a non-factor.
So either Broncos coach Sean Payton is Evans’ kryptonite (remember, Payton coached the slimy Saints when Marcus Lattimore had Evans’ number in so many games) or Bucs playcaller Liam Coen needs to find ways to get Evans open and targeted.
September 23rd, 2024 at 4:47 am
Everytime Mike gets ignored, it’s a detriment to our team.
September 23rd, 2024 at 4:58 am
Too many guys reading the websites, thinking they are elite. Mauch got owned. White is horrid. The Pass Rush, whoever you want to include, invisible. Mayfield, you dropped your pants.
You had a chance to really make a strong start. Now you’re fighting to avoid .500
It was a pathetic effort.
September 23rd, 2024 at 5:03 am
Mike Evans being ‘underutilized’ isn’t the reason we lost that game. Bucs got their a$$es handed to them inb the trenches on BOTH sides of the ball all game long.
Yesterday was the 2nd straight abysmal performance by BOTH our OLine AND our DLine. The OLine couldn’t run block, but they made up for by not being able to pass protect either. I’d say that allowing 12 sacks in the last 2 games kinda points in lets the cat outta the bag.
Our DLine was getting zero pressure on Nix yesterday. Fact is that we have no depth; with both Vea & Kancey out, we’re getting no pressure up the middle, and aren’t being able to open any holes for blitzers to get home. No double-teams necessary when your interior guys are all 2nd stringers. Makes it really easy to neutralize the OLBs.
Unless we heal up FAST, this is gonna be a looong season. Next up: Eagles, Falcons, Saints, Ravens, Falcons, Chiefs, 49ers … ALL teams that love to play smashmouth football.
September 23rd, 2024 at 5:03 am
All off-season we pleaded for a elite or even a solid starter to be brought in at D.E… Sigh. Its just a glaring mistake.
September 23rd, 2024 at 5:37 am
D rules YaYa, and JTS just aren’t good. They are easy to neutralize because they both suck. YaYa couldn’t beat their backup tackle one, on one all day. JTS couldn’t either. Three games 1 sack between them. I don’t care if, or when Kancey comes back, it’s not going to make bad players better. YaYa, and JTS aren’t good, period.
September 23rd, 2024 at 5:40 am
Evans is an elite player and again wasn’t being utilized to full capacity. Yes, he was covered the past few weeks but did get in some great plays. Unsure if this is all on Coen, but you would think Bowles and others would be involved in what is planned and backup planning. Very disappointing game. No one person is to blame. The entire game was a mess. Also, the refs missed some major penalties on the Broncos giving them a few free passes that were critical. Especially the blatant face mask.
Agree with others, no pressure on their QB. And instead the announcers were calling him the 2nd coming of Elway. They were annoying too. Way too much hype on him for one game. Who will the announcers cheer for next week when they play the Jets in NY…
September 23rd, 2024 at 5:58 am
“Players over plays!”?
September 23rd, 2024 at 6:27 am
When TB was here he would just chuck 13 a bomb to get us back in the game, at least get a PI
September 23rd, 2024 at 6:37 am
This was the game I expected to see against Detroit
September 23rd, 2024 at 6:47 am
What about YOUR defense Todd? What’s your excuse for that abortion of a performance? God I despise this franchise sometimes.
September 23rd, 2024 at 7:52 am
Denver has superior coaching. Simple as that.
September 23rd, 2024 at 8:26 am
Why was there zero urgency in the 4th quarter down 2 then 3 scores? Running the play clock down acting like we had another half of football to go
September 23rd, 2024 at 8:28 am
Too much pressure and we have seen Evans taken out of games many times before. I had a feeling this and last week was going to be a Godwin week.
September 23rd, 2024 at 8:39 am
Liam Coen was terrible that game….
Anytime a far superior team talent wise gets blown out by the Broncos you point to coaching.
So Id pump the breaks on crowing Coen after 2 decent games when he cant seem to be in game adjustments especially protection wise.
September 23rd, 2024 at 8:43 am
They were outcoached, and were outplayed in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They were torched by a rookie QB all day and made no adjustments. I’d also like to see what Irving can do with a majority of the carries.
September 23rd, 2024 at 8:57 am
Can you imagine being the OC or QB that broke Evans’ streak?
It would NEVER happen on my watch.
September 23rd, 2024 at 9:07 am
Imagine paying your WR1 21 million plus and treating him like a WR3 with only 4 targets a game.
September 23rd, 2024 at 9:22 am
Todd is whining on Mike’s behalf?! What about YOUR defense? Your “clever” we can get pressure elsewhere, who needs OLBs, dated and hacked bend over defense. Nix looked pro-bowl!! Ppl love to bemoan Dean (and used to CD3, soon McC), but these guys are your top tacklers week after week. They are banged on all game long in run support… Dean had more tackles than the entire DL combined. That is NOT soft. And enough of the Vea is elite chatter. He is either gulping air on the sideline or nursing an injury. You cannot be elite if only available part time.
September 23rd, 2024 at 9:27 am
Evans is the main reason I follow the Bucs closely.
Trying to catch up to Julio Jones for HOF is fun to track.
He also needs to catch up to Tyreek Hill who has the accolades.
He needs to create daylight between him and Hopkins/Adam.
Needs to stay ahead of Diggs and other.
He needs to keep that 1000 yard streak going.
Justin Jefferson is a threat to break it one day. He had 1000k yards last year while only playing half the season.
I also want to see if Mayfield is a top 10 QB. He has been a solid 11-15 type QB.
Thirdly Bucs are a decent team. Are they contenders or pretenders?
September 23rd, 2024 at 9:56 am
I think Coen is still in shock. The whole team needs a come to Jesus talk.
September 23rd, 2024 at 9:59 am
So admittedly O-line coaches Gilbert and Goodwin were not good as run blocking offensive line coaches. Yet they were consistently good at pro pass protection schemes.
Are we seeing the start of hiring a no name offensive line coach and his lack of skill? Has even Wirfs regressed in his pass protection? Or uis that evidence that the O Line coach sucks.
September 23rd, 2024 at 10:04 am
Evans takes some time to get open downfield. The Broncos took very little time getting in Baker’s face.
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:19 am
When a hall of fame receiver can just be completely taken out of the gameplan it REALLY just destroys the offense. Seems like such a game breaker to have someone like Surtain who can take away a teams best weapon for 60 minutes. It’s obvious Baker just shuts down completely as well when he doesn’t have him as a target but he’s still on the field. Not sure what the strategy was on offense but it was horrendous and Sean Payton absolutely owns this Bucs team every time he plays us, even with a severe lack of talent on his team and a rookie QB who looked BAD the first two weeks smfh
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:30 am
Coen is proving the past 2 weeks that there’s a BIG difference between designing plays and calling plays.
He needs a lot of improvement with the latter.
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:52 am
Everyone on here needs to relax it’s one game guys, this is the NFL and you can get outplayed and out coached . We just need to get healthy that’s all.
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:59 am
How would you feel after being sacked 12 times in 7 days and getting intercepted on one long pass attempt? I think the fight went out of Mayfield in this game.
September 23rd, 2024 at 12:19 pm
Agree, Crickett. And Baker kept getting up and playing his heart out too. Anyone else would have been on the injury list. And sadly it seemed as if that was what the Broncos were trying to do.
September 23rd, 2024 at 4:23 pm
The reality was nobody showed up for this game and most of all I’m ashamed of our few fans that did show but wouldn’t even stand up for 3rd down defensive plays. This was a Denver home game and ended up the same last time they were in town when I sat through pouring rain watching rookie Paxton Lynch take the W. I felt the town let this team down yesterday. Big nasty was there (of course no makeup as he retired)…. We need a super fan to step up and correct this sinking ship at RayJ…. Just saying.
September 23rd, 2024 at 4:50 pm
Get down to the party store and buy some trinkets and makeup, Dan!
September 23rd, 2024 at 6:03 pm
This is the same formula that Sean P used to use to punish the Bucs for years. Lock down Evans with Surtain (instead of Lattimore) and punish the A & B gaps. The quick strike passing with no pass rush looked I was watching Drew Brees carve up the Bucs yet again, this time it was just different color jerseys.
That coach has our # and he hasnt forgotten the formula to beat this team.
September 23rd, 2024 at 6:35 pm
Yes Crickett. The fight went out of a lot of guys tired of trying to make up for the shortcomings of the sluggoes. They burned themselves out in Detroit and had nothing left for Denver. You can’t keep trotting the losers out and expect the guys busting their butt to keep making up for their screw ups. Get rid of the losers. Put rookies who will try in there or, get this, go out and hire some pros. Picking up scrubs isn’t cutting it. Genius GM or not.
September 23rd, 2024 at 7:57 pm
Man I’m tired of hearing that Mike Evans needs more catches…He dropped a pass, he was slow getting off the line…I want whoever gets open to catch the ball…we have a lot of good receivers and less face it Evans has slowed down..