Will Gholston and Shelton Quarles already know Mike Evans is gone on his 57-yard catch-and-run from Baker Mayfield Sunday. (Photo courtesy Buccaneers.com.)
Good effing morning, Bucs fans! What an absolutely awesome Victory Monday this is. Joe hasn’t been this stoked since — well, Joe doesn’t kiss and tell. Joe hasn’t been this stoked over a Bucs win since maybe the Super Bowl win over the Chiefs. That’s how huge yesterday’s curb-stomping of the Chargers was. Make sure your coffee is hot and the mug is filled to the brim.
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BY IRA KAUFMAN
It’s all about the streaks.
Where shall we start? How about Mike Evans? He entered Sunday’s matchup needing to average 102.5 yards in the final four games to keep his 1,000-yard streak alive.
With 159 yards and two TDs on his nine catches against the Chargers, Evans now needs to average 83.7 yards against the Cowboys, Panthers and Saints to reach 1,000 once again. That’s a far more manageable number for the future Hall of Famer.
Then we come to the strange case of Jamel Dean, who caught a Justin Herbert floater. That set off a celebration with teammates who perhaps had no idea that Dean had gone 37 consecutive games without an interception.
With those two streaks out of the way, we come to the most important one of all — a four-game run that lifted Tampa Bay to 8-6 and guarantees the Bucs will remain atop the NFC South for at least another week.
This 40-17 beatdown was a huge victory, but it wasn’t a shocking upset because the Bucs were only a slight underdog. What WAS shocking was how thoroughly Tampa Bay embarrassed a solid opponent in its own stadium, using a second-half blitz to send Charger fans back to La La Land wondering what they had just witnessed.
For the second time this season, both on the road, the Bucs won the second half 27-0, erasing deficits at New Orleans and at Los Angeles. [read more]
As Joe noted, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh likes to build a team the way his old Michigan coach Bo Schembechler built them: Tough, physical, scary defense and pounding the football on the ground.
The Bucs today showed Harbaugh how it’s done with the big boys in the NFL. [read more]
The thing Joe loved so much about this win by the Bucs today was how the Chargers wanted to play smashmouth football and Todd Bowles and his gang flew into town and showed the Chargers how to win with their own formula.
And that, Mike Evans told Joe, was what won the game for the Bucs. [read more]
So Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, wearing their Powerpuff blue uniforms (Joe loves them), want to play big boy football with the NFL. Old school Big Ten. Smashmouth.
Well, the Chargers just met the new bully on the block. [read more]
How bout that message the Bucs just sent the entire NFL!
What a beatdown of a quality Chargers team — on the road.
That’s four Bucs wins in a row and there’s not a damn reason in the NFL world that Tampa Bay can’t win its final three games against Dallas, Carolina and New Orleans. [read more]
Joe was hopeful manbeast Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea was going to shake off his invisible game against the Panthers and come back last week and rattle the Raiders. [read more]
It is not quite midnight in the City of Angels but it is almost 3 a.m. on the west coast of the east coast back in Tampa.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Adam Schefter of BSPN — only one minute apart — each just Twittered that Bucs rookie running back Bucky Irving is expected to play today against the Chargers.
So future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans walked into today’s blowout of the Chargers with 43 catches for 590 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles had a message after today’s chain-whipping of the Chargers in Los Angeles. 
In-game injuries kicked Joe in the groin last Sunday. A valuable lesson. 
Joe was hopeful manbeast Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea was going to shake off his invisible game against the Panthers and come back last week and rattle the Raiders. 
