Mike Evans Faces Huge Test Sunday

Mike Evans is on pace for by far his best season in the NFL, but Sunday will be a big test as to how far he’s really come as a wide receiver.

When you are knocking on the door of becoming one of the best receivers in the NFL, you have to step up in big, crucial games. You can’t have on “off” game when you face elite corners. That’s exactly what Mike Evans will do this Sunday when the Broncos come to Raymond James Stadium.

Buccaneers fans are all too familiar with Aqib Talib, one of the NFL’s best shutdown corners. In his first game in Tampa since being traded in 2012 to the New England Patriots he will be given the task of shutting down Jameis Winston‘s go-to target, who is averaging 100 yards and a touchdown in each of the first three games this season.

The Bucs offense is in for a rough day and the continued slump of Vincent Jackson doesn’t help matters any. There isn’t a running game that threatens the defense, and outside of Adam Humphries, there aren’t any other targets in the pass game to alleviate any pressure off Evans.

Sep 8, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib (21) in the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

One of two things will happen; either Evans will be all but eliminated from this game by Talib or there will be some high risk passes – which Jameis is known to do – and although Evans’ athleticism allows him to capitalize on those opportunities, so will Talib who already has one interception returned for a touchdown this season.

Dirk Koetter talked about the marquee matchup and his thoughts on it;

“Well first off, me included, we’ve talked about the matchup with Talib, [but Denver cornerback Chris] Harris is a really good corner too. They’ve both been to the Pro Bowl the last couple of years and I’m not sure if Denver’s going to match [Evans with Talib]. Usually Denver just plays sides, so if they match, then I guess that’s a show of respect that they think Mike’s good enough to match, but for all we know, Denver may look at it as Harris is better than Talib, I don’t know how they look at it. I think they think that they have three starting level corners, [Bradley] Roby when they go into their sub-group as well. Now as far as Mike’s concerned, he’s going to play against really good corners every single week. When you’re the number one receiver, that’s what you get. As we said earlier in the week, we couldn’t be happier with how Mike’s competed, how Mike’s held up form a conditioning standpoint, pushed through some minor injury things and caught the ball in traffic. I think Mike has the mindset he’s going out there to compete and I’m sure the Denver guys do as well.”

I said in my Pick Six column that it was time to start talking about Mike Evans in the same conversations as Julio Jones, A.J. Green, and Odell Beckham Jr. If he can produce against Talib like he did against Patrick Peterson, it certainly gives validity to his status among the NFL’s best.