Mike Evans closes in on history, leads Bucs to win over Chargers When you're chasing the best to ever do it, you don't stop running. When you are trying to get your team back into the ballgame and into the playoffs, and yourself in the record book, you go harder and longer than anyone else. That's what Mike Evans did Sunday against the Chargers. Two second-quarter turnovers put the Bucs in a hole by halftime. But then quarterback Baker Mayfield scrambled to his left, directed traffic, and Evans ran with him until he caught a deep pass, made cornerback Tarheeb Still miss, and raced 57 yards for a touchdown. It was the first of two scores for Evans, who finished with nine catches for a season-high 159 yards and two touchdowns in the Bucs' 40-17 win. After the game, Evans was among the last players to leave the locker room. "That's why I'm here," he said nonchalantly. "I got going early. They were looking for me. We had a really good game plan. We had really great focus this week. Great travel. We knew what kind of game it was going to be, and we came and delivered." It was the fourth straight win for the Bucs (8-6). Most impressively, they hung 40 points on a Chargers defense that had allowed the fewest in the NFL. In only his fourth game back since suffering a hamstring injury, Evans needed to average a little more than 100 receiving yards per game to post his 11th straight 1,000-yard season, trying Jerry Rice for the NFL record. Now, Evans needs to average only 83.6 over the final three games to tie that illustrious mark. "Oh my goodness. It's unbelievable," tackle Tristan Wirfs said. "How many yards did he have (Sunday)? That's awesome. We're all pulling for him. We're all trying to get it for him. He's getting into rare air up there. I mean, he already is in rare air. He's going to wear a gold jacket. It's just a matter of when." Evans was the player who ignited the Bucs offense, but offensive coordinator Liam Coen never runs out of matches. The Bucs rushed for 223 yards, led by rookie Bucky Irving, who had 117 on 15 carries, including a 54-yard run. Mayfield overcame a first-half interception to pass for 288 yards and four touchdowns, including one to upstart rookie receiver Jalen McMillan. Remember, after the bye week the Bucs had only one team left on their schedule with a winning record: the Chargers. Flying to the West Coast to play a Jim Harbaugh team when you really can't afford to lose a game is a tall order. Mayfield's interception and a lost fumble by Rachaad White helped the Chargers build a 17-10 lead. But even at age 31, Evans is the kind of player who can put an entire team on his back. "I think he's a guaranteed Hall of Famer," Todd Bowles said. "He is everything a player aspires to be. We can't ask for more than he's giving us right now. You can't put a price on what he does for this team." Evans would have had another touchdown and close to a 200-yard receiving day had he not been pulled down by his T-shirt after another catch. "We told him we've got to get him another T-shirt," Bowles said. Irving, who left last week's game when his back tightened, practiced well enough on Friday to convince Bowles to play him. Another rookie, McMillan, is coming of age and had five catches for 75 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown reception to end the first drive of the game. "I can only imagine for a defensive coordinator what it's like going against us," Mayfield said. "Personnel changes: 13 personnel (one tight end, three receivers) 21 (two backs, one tight end), 11 (one running back, one tight end). And it's just, how do you defend that? There's a lot of plays in the same formation, so it's tough to defend that." If the best scoring defense in the NFL can't, who can? The Bucs are playing about as well as any team in the league right now. It's not just the four-game winning streak. Despite injuries to three safeties and a starting linebacker, the defense has allowed the fewest points in the NFL since the bye week. But what the team does have is Evans, a virtual lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who is driven to tie Rice's record and driving the Bucs to the postseason. "Baker did a great job," Evans said of his first touchdown. "They forced him out to the left. I ran with him. With scrambling quarterbacks, you have to run to get in their vision, and I did that and he threw a great ball. I don't know who it was (Still), but he missed a tackle, I stayed on the sideline and made a play." By the way, the Chargers have a rookie receiver on injured reserve named Brenden Rice. He may not have been at SoFi Stadium Sunday, but you know he was watching. Wonder what he will tell his father about Mike Evans. Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times, published 16 December 2024