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Buccaneers' Winston, Evans not afraid to challenge Sherman

Eric Hartline / USA TODAY Sports

The connection between Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and wide receiver Mike Evans has been as hot as any duo in the league this season, but they'll face arguably their biggest challenge of the year Sunday in the form of Richard Sherman.

The Seattle Seahawks' star cornerback has, as usual, been shutting down opponents' No. 1 options, but Winston won't be deterred from throwing to his top target.

"You have to be aware of one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but I like my guy. I like my guy in that matchup," Winston said Wednesday, according to Mark Cook of PewterReport.com. "Mike is having an amazing year, but that is just trust. Sherman has been covering a lot of guys in his whole career. But at the end of the day he doesn’t have that connection that me and Mike have. So at the end of the day, he still has to defend us."

While Evans expressed his admiration for Sherman, he said it's nothing new for him to go head-to-head with the best the NFL has to offer.

"I play some of the best athletes in the world, going at it one-on-one," Evans said. "That's great. Hopefully he'll match me. I'm a big fan of his and I think it will be a fun day."

The Bucs have won two straight, including an impressive victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, who hadn't lost since the start of October.

At 5-5, Tampa Bay are still in the playoff hunt, and Evans believes they can play with any team in the league.

"I think so. I think we've proven it and we've got to keep proving ourselves," Evans said. "We got a tough win in Arrowhead against one of the best teams in the AFC and now we've got one of the best teams in the league in the past few years coming to our house. So we've got to just keep proving ourselves."

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