Bruce Arians, the Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recently told the media that he wants Mike Evans more involved in their offense.
Evan’s status fluctuated between questionable and out before the Buccaneers Week One game. It was determined he would be a game-time decision. Just before the game, the Buccaneers staff deemed Evans available to play.
*All stats from pro-football-reference.com*
Even though he was healthy enough to play, he didn’t see many passes come his way. Buccaneer’s new quarterback, Tom Brady, looked Evans way four times. Evans caught one pass for two yards, which was a touchdown. Two of the other passes towards him resulted in a defensive pass interference call.
It may seem like the Buccaneers were limiting Evans to a snap count. They could’ve been only allowing him to be out there for a certain amount of snaps, but that wasn’t the case. He took 65 offensive snaps in the game, 93% of what the Buccaneers had on offense.
Arian’s Thoughts
Arians told Rick Stroud of the�Tampa Bay Times his thoughts on what he expects from Evans in a game.
�We got to do a better job when we play the Saints of getting Mike in different positions. I think we let him sit there on the backside too much last week and it�s something we�re going to have to address when we play them later on again. . . . I never want to come out of a game without 10 targets to Mike, at least.�
Besides not targeting Evans enough, Arians didn’t feel too great about Brady’s two interceptions thrown. He shared his thoughts Sunday, after their loss to the Saints.
�One was a miscommunication between him and Mike [Evans].” “He thought Mike was going down the middle � it was a different coverage � Mike read it right. He should have been across his face, but Tom overthrew it. The other one was a screen pass with an outlet called. He threw the outlet and it was a pick-six. Bad decision.�
Hopefully, Arians’ words don’t get to Brady’s head, and the Buccaneers can click in their next game.
The Buccaneers play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in week two.
