Just about every Tampa Bay Buccaneers player needed to step up after the way things went last Sunday, as no one deserved to be spared blame.
If there was a guy who might be on the line, though, it was Mike Evans. One of the biggest criticisms of the way the loss to Houston was called was how Dave Canales didn't create enough plays that used his best offensive weapon.
Evans finished last week with four catches for 87 yards, but he was only targeted five times and failed to reach the endzone. All of this despite the fact the Buccaneers offense scored a season-high 37-points in the loss.
Had Evans been involved more, perhaps things would have gone differently.
That wasn't the case on Sunday against the Titans. Evans was targeted on the third play of the game, and would see Baker Mayfield look his way nine more times before the game was over. Unsurprisingly, the Bucs looking Evans way that many times resulted in six catches for 143 yards and an epic touchdown that sealed the deal late in the game.
Listen to Buccaneers radio call of Mike Evans TD vs. Titans
Evans had a pair of brutal drops, one of which was an easy touchdown pass on the first drive of the second half. He dropped a potential drive-extending pass before halftime that had him enraged on the sideline to the point of slamming a water cooler, and CBS cameras couldn't cut away from him looking distraught over his mistakes.
Most receivers would have let those kinds of mistakes ruin their day, but not Evans. He made up for his endzone drop in the third quarter when he caught a 22 yard pass from Baker and dragged Titans safety Kristian Fulton across the goal line with him.
Per usual, Gene Deckerhoff was on the Buccaneers radio call and managed to make the touchdown by Evans even more awesome than it already was.
Gene Deckerhoff calls Mayfield's 22 yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans who dragged a tackler 5 yards into the end zone pic.twitter.com/XOaRnDx8PJ
— Bucs Rays Bolts (@BucsRaysBoltsYT) November 12, 2023
Evans now has 737 yards on the season, which puts him on pace to finish with over 1,300 yards. That would give him a tenth consecutive season of finishing with over 1,000 yards and put him just two seasons away from passing Jerry Rice for the longest streak in NFL history.
He's in a contract year, which is a cloud of anxiety building o the horizon of however this season finishes. We'll have to wait and see if Evans' future remains in Tampa Bay but if this is going to be his last season with the Buccaneers it sure seems like he wants to go out with a bang.