Injuries have already started to carve out an unwanted place in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' season, and things got even worse on Sunday.
Tampa Bay was able to pull out another last-second victory to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2005, but it came at a cost. Late in the game, Mike Evans needed to exit with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, and nothing about it looked good.
While there wasn't any immediate update on Evans beyond him being ruled 'questionable', his reaction after coming out of the game doesn't exactly exude good vibes. Evans was not only limping badly, but he slammed his helmet into a water cooler while looking visibly upset.
Mike Evans was PISSED limping off the field. He punches a cooler in anger before walking to the tunnel. #Bucs pic.twitter.com/11H44A52nf
— Matt Matera (@matty4_matera) September 21, 2025
NFL on FOX cameras also caught him spiking his helmet in anger while walking back to the Buccaneers' locker room. He did not return to the game, which is what makes the comeback win even more impressive knowing how important Evans is to the offense.
The absolute last thing the Bucs can afford is to lose Evans for any duration of time. He's a key piece of the offense, but he's also chasing down Jerry Rice's record for most consecutive 1,000 yard seasons -- something that would be in serious jeopardy if he were to miss games.
Last yer, Evans missed three games with a hamstring injury that forced him to take extending his streak right down to the last play of the Buccaneers' season. Through the first three weeks of this season, Evans has 140 yards and is projected to finish just shy of 1,000 yards if this pace keeps up.
He missed the final part of Sunday's game, a stretch where he absolutely would have been targeted and likely would have finished with more yards than he did. As it stands, though, he'll need to average around 61 yards per game to his 1,000 yards and that becomes even harder if he misses games due to injury.
Thankfully, the Bucs have Emeka Egbuka emerging as a true superstar, but that doesn't help Evans' pursuit of NFL history. All of that combined with his constant hinting about retirement has Bucs fans feeling way more down on him missing some time this year than they otherwise would be, but hopefully it doesn't end up coming to that.
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