There was no shortage of storylines heading into this Sunday's showdown in Motown for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All of the attention seemed to be getting paid to the Detroit Lions side of things, which makes sense considering the context their playoff run exists in.
Everyone focusing so much on the Lions seemed to be selling the Bucs short, though, but a bit of trash talk during the week centered the lens a bit. Lions safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson called out Baker Mayfield, saying that Mike Evans and Chris Godwin would be so much better if they had a quarterback.
This started a back-and-forth that eventually involved Godwin coming to the defense of his quarterback and Baker noting that he's had the quote taped to his locker all week. It also came in the middle of a career year for Mayfield, which made the barb seem a little lame and lazy.
After his quote ended up on the Bucs' bulletin board ahead of Sunday, Gardner-Johnson backed up his trash talk by picking off Baker on Tampa Bay's first drive of the game.
Tipped and picked by CJ Gardner-Johnson!
— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
📺: #TBvsDET on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/frRD38ClOq pic.twitter.com/YywC0LjHRm
Everyone on social media had the same exact lame joke about how it turns out CJ watched some film, but others were pointing the finger at someone else. Bucs fans were furious with Mike Evans, who didn't secure the catch and was the reason the ball went flying up into the air for Gardner-Johnson to pick off.
Oof. Thats entirely on Mike Evans. Absolutely can’t do that.
— Bolts Jolts (@BoltsJolts) January 21, 2024
Baker Mayfield when he gets charged an interception for a pass that hit Mike Evans in the hands pic.twitter.com/Gdu0F5rFQ4
— Howie Roseman’s Burner (@HowieBurner) January 21, 2024
Interceptions are a Mike Evans stat
— Stathole (@Statholesports) January 21, 2024
That’s completely on Mike Evans - who dropped everything last week and just handed #Lions all the mojo.
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) January 21, 2024
Right off the hands of Mike Evans. What is going on with him? #Bucs
— Matt Matera (@matty4_matera) January 21, 2024
Mike Evans turning into Quentin Johnston not an ideal turn of events for the Bucs
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 21, 2024
Jiminy Christmas, Mike Evans got two hands on it and played volleyball.
— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) January 21, 2024
What the hell Mike Evans
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) January 21, 2024
Evans has been in a bit of a slump after managing to put together another magical season. He's the Bucs best offensive weapon, but only when he's playing up to the level everyone has come to expect from him.
Lately he's been hardly pulling his weight.
He had some brutal drops in the Wild Card win over Philly, and has been plagued by butter fingers throughout the season. Evans still put together a season in which he went over 1,000 yards for the 10th straight time and further developed a solid Hall of Fame case, but it's moments like this that make Bucs fans pull their hair out.
The fact that it's one of the best and most reliable players on the team letting everyone down is the most shocking part about it all.
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