The Buccaneers head into Sunday’s game against the Saints with eyes on winning the NFC South and advancing to the playoffs, but there’s also some individual business they’d like to take care of at their home field.
Wide receiver Mike Evans has 915 receiving yards on the season, which means he’s 85 yards away from getting 1,000 yards for the 11th straight season. That would tie him with Jerry Rice for the longest such streak in NFL history and it was a topic of conversation around the team on Wednesday.
Head coach Todd Bowles said “there’s no balance” between trying to win and trying to get Evans the record because winning is the focus, but quarterback Baker Mayfield sees things a little different. According to Mayfield, the path to winning is one that means that Evans is going to have a big day.
“To get him to that — obviously, winning is the most important part but those two things go hand in hand,” Mayfield said, via the team’s website. “Mike is a huge part of this offense and a huge part of this passing game and so getting him involved early and often is a lot of the reason we’ve had success. Those things go hand in hand. There’s balance and the most important thing is winning but I see it playing out — if we win, Mike is getting the record.”
Evans has had 85 receiving yards in a game four times this season, including last Sunday, and the Bucs have won all four of those games, so Mayfield’s theory appears to be a well-founded one. Now things just have to play out that way in Week 18.
