Todd Bowles on Getting Mike Evans the Football: "We’ve Got to Make That a Priority"
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense was dismal throughout the 2022-2023 NFL season. Blame for this could come from a number of different areas, but ultimately the offense did not mesh last year resulting in the offense being near the bottom of the league in many categories including points per game (25th), yards per play (25th), red zone scoring % (25th), and touchdowns per game (26th).
The passing game may have been the Bucs' strong suit - as the run game was close to dead last in the league - but the inconsistency in the pass game and inability to score in the red zone was a major factor in the demise of the Buccaneers last season.
With all the weapons the Bucs have it is hard to imagine why the passing game turned out the way it did, especially with Tom Brady manning the offense under center. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are two of the better wide receiver duos in the league and both had down seasons last year even with both eclipsing the 1,000 receiving yard mark. The problem was, the Bucs couldn't get them the ball in scoring situations.
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Buccaneers' head coach Todd Bowles is fully aware that they need to put their star players in situations where they can be successful and put points up on the board for the team to also be successful and he spoke on that during media availability this week.
“We’ve got to make that a priority, obviously,” Bowles said Tuesday. “I think we made it a priority last year. Sometimes it was shut down; sometimes we just misread it here and there, whether it was on the receiver, the [quarterback] or offensive linemen. We’ve got to get better in that area in getting him the football.”
Tom Brady is no longer around and we can forget about him coming out of retirement to save the day. The Bucs' offense will either be headlined at quarterback by Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask, both of whom should feel comfortable with their targets on the outside in Godwin and Evans.
“We know [Evans is] a threat, and we know he’s a great player,” Bowles said, “so we’ve got to constantly find ways — not just him, but Chris as well — we’ve got to find ways to get those guys the ball.”
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Whoever starts for the Buccaneers will have the means to push the ball down the field and create scoring plays, but it will be up to the team as a whole to make sure that their star players are put in the best positions to garner the attention of a defense and the one way to do that is by getting them the ball.
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