Film Study: Tampa Bay WR Mike Evans Thriving With Tom Brady In the Red Zone
It is no secret that Mike Evans has been one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL recently, as the two-time Pro Bowler has consistently managed to be productive despite inconsistency around him throughout his time in Tampa Bay.
Posting record numbers with Jameis Winston at the helm, everyone was excited to see Evans featured in an offense with the greatest quarterback of all-time in Tom Brady. Despite some early skepticism, the two have clicked, especially in the red zone, as Brady's favorite target is undoubtedly the 6-5, 231-pound veteran from Texas A&M.
Throughout 12 games so far this season, Evans has scored eleven touchdowns, most by any WR on the Buccaneers by a significant margin. Just for perspective, tight end Rob Gronkowski has the next most touchdowns on the team with four.
In terms of the whole league, Evans ranks fourth in receiving touchdowns, only following Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, and Adam Thielen. With four games remaining, Evans has a chance to break his single-season high of 12 touchdowns, which came in 2014 and 2016.
As a result, Brady has been one of the NFL's best red zone quarterbacks this season. Brady has completed 62.5% of his 64 red area passing attempts for 233 yards, 23 touchdowns (second-most in the league), and zero interceptions. Evans has been on the receiving end of 11 red zone completions (17 targets) for 56 yards and nine scores.
With Brady’s tendency to look for Evans in the red zone, now is as good as a time as ever to break his record, especially considering his 1,000-yard streak will most likely come to an end this season. When Brady looks Evans way, he can't help but think of an old receiving target from New England, Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss.
"From a physical standpoint – both [have] big bodies, big catch radiuses and great body control," Brady said in September. "Great understanding of the game – feel, instincts. Randy is a Hall of Famer. I think Mike is going to be one too and it's been amazing to play with him."
Given his frame, Evans has given fits to many corners he has faced throughout his career. The NFL veteran is hyper aware with how to use his body and has strong hands to bring in any ball that has come his way.
Film Study
Here you can find Evans lined up against the Chiefs, Bucs ball on the seven. Evans and running back Leonard Fournette are found in a two-man stack, with Evans leading the way.
Chiefs corner Bashaud Breeland lines up across from Evans, trying to one-hand jam him off the snap. Evans quickly absorbs the contact, getting towards the sideline to get away from Breeland after beating him off the line of scrimmage. Brady sees the separation from Evans, throwing it to him for an easy seven-yard touchdown reception.
This is just one example of Evans using his larger frame to bully smaller cornerbacks, as once Breeland jams with only one hand, the rep was over as the Chiefs corner stumbles and linebacker Anthony Hitchens (#53) can’t recover fast enough to get to the flat where Evans was wide open.
Due to Evans' wide catch radius matched with his impeccable footwork, corners in man coverage are stuck guessing when matched up with Evans. With those tools at his disposal, Evans can score on slants, fade routes, outs, and digs toward the back of the end zone. The entire route tree is available to Evans in the red zone which makes him near impossible to cover, especially in man-to-man coverage trying to combat his size.
Take a look at this next clip, which displays all of Evans' strengths all put together. In the second matchup with Carolina, Evans found the end zone on a dig late in the second quarter.
Pre-snap, the look was man coverage as Rasul Douglas was pressed against Evans while the ball was placed on the two-yard line. To confirm it was man coverage, Brady motions Godwin, who is lined up on the opposite side of Evans, inside the formation, and the Carolina cornerback followed.
Once the ball is snapped, Evans takes Douglas outside as if he was going to run a fade, but quickly cuts inside causing Douglas to flip his hips, giving Evans the room he needs to get to where he needs to go.
With Douglas now trailing Evans, all Brady has to do is put it where Evans can come down with it which is done by throwing a high ball right at the back of the end zone.
Evans, using his strong hands and stellar body control high points the football and manages to gets two feet in bounds, all while holding onto the ball as Douglas tries to knock it away.
As mentioned earlier, Evans can run any route he wants to the red zone with success. Due to his size, fades are always a viable option in Evans' repertoire.
Even against a corner who has given Evans trouble in former Carolina Panther James Bradberry, Evans still finds score. Off the snap, Bradberry hits Evans with an effective jam which knocked Evans off his route, but paired with a counter-strike from Evans' right hand, the jam ultimately helped Evans to gain depth and space for Brady to deliver a dot to the sideline. Evans lays out for the ball, reeling in a beautiful diving catch allowing his team to regain the lead in a close game.
Fun fact, as NextGenStats points out, Evans is one of the best receivers in the league on 9-routes: Verticals and fades.
There have been some small bumps in the road, such as a missed touchdown against Carolina in week ten where there appeared to be a miscommunication. But regardless of a few struggles, when Brady and Evans are both playing their best football, they have the scoring potential to be one of the best tandems in the NFL.
Take this slant against the Bears for example, as Brady places the ball perfectly as Evans breaks out his slant. Evans beats his man and is ready for the ball right off his break, ending up with another score for the Buccaneers.
Mike Evans is thriving in a scheme suited to get him the ball where he does his best work, in the red zone.
Evans will continue to find ways to score in an unprecedented season, especially considering his impressive stat lines throughout his career. His skill set is one that teams cannot guard, no matter who they put on him, and that's currently invaluable to a Buccaneers' offense that has had its ups and downs.
