Playoff Preview: Buccaneers pass game

Previewing the Bucs pass game ahead of the Commanders playoff matchup against Tampa Bay

Yesterday I previewed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run game ahead of the Commanders wildcard matchup this coming Sunday. The Bucs have one of the best rushing attacks in the league and the Commanders have struggled to defend the run this season. But it’s not just the run game that the Commanders have to worry about defensively. The Bucs also boast one of the best passing offenses in the NFL, giving them a very balanced offense that can beat you in multiple ways.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield has been playing at a high level this year and has spread the ball around to his various weapons that the Bucs have, but the obvious big threat is wide receiver Mike Evans. Evans was the seventh overall pick back in 2014 and has been an absolute stud ever since. On Sunday, he got to 1000 receiving yards on the season, which incredibly he has done every year of his career to date. He tied Jerry Rice’s record for 11 consecutive 1000 yards seasons, which is a phenomenal achievement.

The Commanders will have their hands full trying to defend Evans. The Bucs do a great job working looks for him against various forms of coverage. The Commanders ideally would like to play more man coverage to free up extra rushers to blitz, but Evans is very tough to guard one-on-one.

When teams commit to playing man coverage, the Bucs like to isolate Evans’ matchup. These two plays show the exact same idea, first in Week 1 against the Commanders and then more recently in Week 16 against the Cowboys. In both clips, Evans lines up to the left of the formation, while the other four eligible receivers all split out to the right. With four receivers on the right side, the defense has no choice but to slide over that way and try to prevent being overloaded to that side. What that does, however, is isolate Evans one-on-one, which is exactly what the Bucs want.

In both of these plays, you’ll see Evans run a fade down the sideline and on both occasions he comes up with the ball. He’s good enough to just beat a corner outright, but he is also one of the best contested catch receivers in the league. In the first clip, you can see Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste actually does a pretty good job on Evans. He stays on top of Evans and tries to force him to the sideline to close the throwing window. Despite that, Mayfield knows he has Evans one-on-one so he just puts the ball up instantly and Evans goes and makes a play. He tracks it brilliantly and uses his size and strength to fight for position on the ball. He gets both hands to the ball with St-Juste all over him, but he still comes down with the catch and the touchdown. Similarly, in the second clip he’s able to use his frame to hold off the defender and extend out to make a strong catch away from his body to pick up the big play.

But it’s not just against man coverage that Evans thrives. As he’s gotten older, he’s become very savvy at finding ways to get open against all sorts of coverages. Credit must go to Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen too, who does a great job moving him around and finding ways to get him involved against various types of defenses.

Here we see a couple of clips of Evans making catches against different zone coverages. On the first play of the clip, Evans lines up tight to the right of the formation. Before the snap, the Bucs send a receiver in motion and he ends up running a wheel route down the sideline outside of Evans. This is designed to clear out any outside zone defender. As the play progresses, you can see that is exactly what happens. The corner bails deep outside to stay on top of the wheel route, leaving a safety inside to try and guard Evans. Evans runs a sail route and predictably beats the safety as he breaks outside and makes the catch for a first down.

On the second play of the clip, the Bucs show a very similar look. Evans lines up outside to the left and a receiver goes in motion from the right side before running up the seam. At the snap, Evans releases inside and follows in the path of the other receiver. He begins to break outside like we saw before on a sail route, which causes the outside cornerback to peel off and look back for the ball, assuming a sail route is coming. But the Bucs have a twist up their sleeve and Evans turns the sail route into a double move and suddenly breaks down the sideline. With the deep defender occupied by the other receiver, Evans is left wide open and Mayfield finds him for a 25-yard touchdown.

Evans is clearly the go-to receiver in the Bucs offense, as he should be. In key situations, they will move him around to create the best possible situation for him and let him do what he does best. He could line up outside or in the slot, but the ball is going his way first in key spots.