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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions. @PewterReport Twitter accounts are added to the Bucs Mailbag weekly. Submit your questions to the Bucs Mailbag weekly via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucks questions we chose to answer in this week’s issue.
Question: Do you think we aimed to beat the Eagles? Do you think it’s possible?
answer: Yes, the Bucks have a chance to beat the Eagles. This young Tampa Bay team is brimming with confidence after a 2-0 start and a 27-17 win over the Chicago Bears in their home opener. Reigning NFC Champion Philadelphia also enters next week’s Monday Night Football contest at 2-0. The Bucks defeated undefeated teams in the Vikings and Bears twice, and the Eagles defeated the Patriots and Vikings twice, both times going 0-2.
Bucks RB Rathard White – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
There has been improvement in the Bucs’ offense and running game, but this is most important because the Eagles have one of the best defensive lines in football. Philadelphia had an unusually high number of sacks last season, leading the league with 70 sacks. The Eagles have just four sacks through two games, while the Bucs now have eight sacks after getting six against Justin Fields on Sunday.
But Philadelphia, with two first-round draft picks in Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter at defensive tackle, boasts the league’s best run defense, allowing just 52 rushing yards per game. Not yet. Tampa Bay ranks second in the league with 54 yards per game.
For the Bucks to win, they’ll need to play much the same type of game they had against the Bears. Chicago’s offense is similar to Philadelphia’s, and both the Bears and Eagles have very mobile quarterbacks who are best suited when they have a solid run game. The difference is that Jalen Hurts is better than Fields, and D’Andre Swift, who rushed for 175 yards last Thursday, Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell are better than any of the Bears’ running backs. Needless to say, Philadelphia has a much better offensive line than Chicago.
After a week of playing on the co-team, the Bucs defense cracks open on varsity. If Tampa Bay can slow down the Eagles’ ground game, contain Hurts, and force the defense into turnovers like they did against Fields, the Bucs certainly have a chance. The key will be to hold the Eagles to 23 points or less.
Offensively, Baker Mayfield will need to play turnover-free football again and the offense will need to improve in the red zone. Tampa Bay currently ranks him 29th out of 32 in red zone efficiency. The Bucs went just 1-of-4 inside the red zone on Sunday with Rashard White’s touchdown. The Bucks then had to settle for three field goal attempts, one of which was blocked.
As I talked about in last week’s article, Pewter Pulse video, NFL scheduler favors Bucs In scheduling the Bears and Eagles in back-to-back weeks. Tampa Bay’s defense has been preparing for similar attacks for weeks in a row, which should help. The Bucks offense has to do its part, score 20+ points, and do better inside the red zone. Yes, Tampa Bay has a puncher’s chance to beat Philadelphia in Week 3 on Monday Night Football.
Question: You said on the recent Pewter Report Podcast that you think Mike Evans needs to have a monster year to get an extension from the Glazers. He seems to be progressing at that pace. What number do you think would earn him that extension, or is that just wishful thinking?
answer: Mike Evans had six catches and 171 yards receiving against the Bears and is currently fourth in the league in receiving yards behind Justin Jefferson (309 yards), Puka Nacua (266 yards) and Tyreek Hill (255 yards). (237 yards). Week 2. More importantly, Evans leads the team with 2 touchdowns last year, even though he only had 6 TDs. After a great training camp, I wrote: It could be a monster year for the four-time Pro Bowler. Evans is off to a strong start this year, which is a big contract year for the 30-year-old receiver.
Bucks WR Mike Evans – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
Evans is on pace for 102 catches for 2,320 yards and 17 touchdowns this season. Of course, he’ll never go over 2,000 yards or even come close. Averaging 118 yards per game over a 17-week season is pretty unreasonable and unsustainable for this offense. Jefferson gained a league-leading 1,809 yards last year, averaging 106 yards per game. Evans’ career high in receiving yards was 1,584 during the 2018 season. That season, Evans averaged 99 yards per game.
Even more important to Evans and the Bucs is the fact that the future Hall of Famer is scoring a touchdown in each game. Evans set a franchise record with 12 touchdowns in his rookie year in 2014, and matched that record a few years later. In 2020, he scored 13 touchdowns and led the Bucs to a Super Bowl victory. Evans then set a new record with 14 touchdowns in 2021, but dropped to just six points last season.
When Evans scores 13 or more touchdowns in a season, the Bucs achieve double-digit wins. Points, not yards, win games, so I think the ultimate goal for No. 13 is 13 (or more).
As for Evans’ contract situation, a 70-plus catch for over 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns in his 10th season should earn him a good deal from some team. I think he would need to have at least 1,300 receiving yards with at least 10 TDs for the Bucs to be really interested in re-signing him. Evans had 1,124 yards last year and 1,035 and 1,006 yards the two seasons before that. Barely reaching 1,000 yards is another thing. But if Evans wants to be rewarded by the Bucs and other teams as one of the league’s elite receivers, he’ll need to prove he can reach the 1,300-yard mark again at age 30 and shows no signs of slowing down. There will be.
question: Several comments have been made about Baker Mayfield’s gritty, heartfelt play as he battled through the first half and finished the job in the second half. Does this remind you of Jeff Garcia? You can see a lot of heart and guts when you compare. It’s not fancy, but it got the job done.
Former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden and QB Jeff Garcia – Photo courtesy of USA Today
answer: This is actually a very good comparison, and one I hadn’t thought of before. Jeff Garcia He joined the Bucks during the 2007 season and led the team to a 9-7 record and the NFC South title. Garcia then helped the Bucs to a 9-3 start in 2008, but at 0-4, Tampa Bay missed the playoffs and fired head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen. A major clean-up was carried out, including the dismissal of the entire roster. Overhauled in 2009.
Garcia was 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, similar in size to Baker Mayfield, who was 6-foot-1, 210 pounds. Both quarterbacks showed mobility and a knack for escaping pressure and improvising plays outside of the pocket. And both QBs were known for their competitive heart, grit, and toughness.
Garcia completed 64.5% of his passes for Tampa Bay, with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during that time. But Garcia is older, having played for the Bucks at ages 38 and 39, with injuries in each season. Garcia missed three games in 2007 and four the following year due to injury.
Mayfield has only played in two games for Tampa Bay, but he is off to a great start, completing 47 of 68 passes (69%) for 490 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. There are still 15 games left, but we’ll see if Mayfield can stay healthy and continue to avoid turnovers. But yes, his quarterback’s frenetic style and accuracy remind me of Garcia.
question: Baker or Brady?
answer: seriously? So when it comes to the heyday of the all-time great Tom Brady, there’s no comparison. He’s the best quarterback to ever play the game, and he has the most wins in the regular season, the most playoff wins, and the Super Bowl to back it up. Baker Mayfield is confident in his abilities, but my guess is that if you asked Mayfield who he would choose, he would choose Brady over himself. Mayfield has always spoken passionately about the former Patriots and Bucs quarterback.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
Now, if the question is whether to go with this year’s version of Mayfield, who is 2-0 and hasn’t yet turned the ball over, or last year’s version of Brady, there may be a debate to be had. Brady wasn’t bad last year either, as he threw for 4,694 yards, 25 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Most NFL teams would take on that level of quarterback play right away.
But Brady wasn’t the elite QB he was last year Recorded 40 TDs and 12 INTs for Tampa Bay in 2020. He helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV and the 2021 championship, breaking his own team record with 43 points and a franchise-best 5,316 passing yards with just 12 picks. He went through a divorce during the season and hasn’t been able to get his head straight enough, and it showed in his plays a few Sundays.
Brady certainly wouldn’t be a great fit in Dave Canales’ offense, which features play-action bootlegs, waggles, rollouts, and off-the-cuff QB runs. Mobility wasn’t Brady’s asset, but he was the best pocket passer of all time.
“Anytime the quarterback can move, it helps you avoid getting sacked,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after Sunday’s win of Mayfield, who has only been sacked once in two games.
So this crime, this year, for this The Buccaneers team appears to have a slight advantage in Mayfield over the 46-year-old Brady, but that’s only because he fits the system the Bucs run in Canales. But be warned, we have a long season ahead of us. Tampa Bay started last season 2-0 and finished 8-9. Let’s see if Mayfield can continue his Houdini behavior behind the line of scrimmage to avoid sacks and turnovers, and if the Bucs continue to avoid losses as well.
Question: I have a question. Can we get YaYa “Bodegaaaaa!”? Will Diaby (in SR voice) be on the Pewter Report Podcast tomorrow?
answer: absolutely! We will be happy to work with you! Other than the postgame Pewter Report podcast after a Bucks win, Victory Monday is always the best Pewter Report podcast. If you don’t know what this question is referring to, you’ll have to listen to this week’s Victory Monday Pewter Report podcast to find out.
On Mondays, Matt Matera and I always do roll call at 4:20 PM ET. There, you ask live listeners to join the chat and let you know where they’re listening to your podcast from. The Pewter Report Podcast isn’t just listened to in the Tampa Bay area and the state of Florida. We have viewers and listeners all over the country and around the world. Be sure to visit and subscribe to the PewterReportTV YouTube channel. She is trying to reach 12,000 subscribers. Thank you, Pewter People!
Please check the latest information Pewter Report Podcast: Sack Attack! Bucks Beat the Bears before watching Monday’s show.
