Buccaneers star wideout Mike Evans has produced three straight 1,000-yard seasons to start his career despite being the only consistent receiving threat on Tampa Bay's offense.
However, with free-agent arrival DeSean Jackson forcing defenses to respect his speed, Evans was delighted to find himself in one-on-one situations for most of Sunday's blowout win over the Chicago Bears.
"The last couple of seasons, the Bears double-teamed me crazy," Evans said, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. "I probably saw maybe one or two double teams today. It was great. We had a lot of one-on-one opportunities. We have a lot of talent, so all we have to do beat the one-on-one matchups. I hope it's like this every week, but it's obviously not."
Evans responded to his newfound opportunities by catching seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, while leading the Bucs in targets.
The 24-year-old caught his 13-yard score against a single defender. He was able to beat an aggressive Marcus Cooper off the line and easily adjusted to the pass with no safety to worry about, twirling around and dragging his toes to stay in bounds.
Based on the defense's look, head coach Dirk Koetter knew quarterback Jameis Winston wouldn't be able to resist throwing one up for his favorite target.
"I saw one-on-one coverage," Koetter said after the game. "I figured that's where Jameis was going to go with the ball. That's something we work on a lot, and Mike and Jameis have put a lot of time in that red-zone fade ball. We don't get single coverage on Mike very often, so when we do, we're happy to see it."
