- Among the many feats Mike Evans accomplished Sunday, one was becoming the youngest player ever with a 200-yard receiving game
- Danny Lansanah leads all NFL linebackers in interceptions and his latest one also duplicated a feat by the great Ronde Barber
- Five different defensive lineman had sacks for the Bucs on Sunday, a first since 2010
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Washington Redskins, 27-7, Sunday at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, improving to 2-8 on the season. Here are some of the more notable statistics and milestones from Sunday's game:
Obviously, it starts with rookie wide receiver Mike Evans, and there's a good chance you've heard or read a number of the ways in which his seven-catch, 209-yard, 2-TD masterpiece has been broken down. So, without belaboring the point, let's start by listing those various notes, altogether here in one place for posterity. If you're Evans-statted-out at the moment or believe you've already ingested all the crazy numbers that are out there, skip ahead for some Stat Shots on additional Buccaneer players. Skip way ahead, because there are a few new notes sprinkled in and this is going to take a while!
On Sunday against the Redskins, Evans…
1. …Posted the second-most receiving yards ever by a Buccaneer rookie in a single game. Mark Carrier set the record at 212 at New Orleans on Dec. 6, 1987.
2. …Posted the third-highest single-game receiving yardage total in Buccaneer history among all players, not just rookies. It was only the fourth 200-yard outing in team annals; in fact, it was only the fourth game in the Bucs' record books with at least 180 receiving yards. Here are the top five:
Most Receiving Yards in a Single Game, Buccaneers
Player |
Opp.-Date |
Rec. Yards |
|
vs. NO-10/21/12 |
216 |
|
at NO-12/6/87 |
212 |
3. Mike Evans* |
at WAS-11/16/14 |
209 |
|
at CAR-12/8/08 |
200 |
|
at OAK-10/18/81 |
178 |
3.…Became the second player in team history to record three straight games with at least 100 receiving yards and at least one touchdown. Antonio Bryant was the first to do it, from Dec. 8 to Dec. 21, 2008 – at Carolina, at Atlanta and against San Diego.
4. …Became the second player in the NFL to accomplish that feat this year, joining Denver's Demaryius Thomas, who had his three-game streak from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19.
5. …Became the first NFL rookie to accomplish that feat since Randy Moss in 1998.
6. …At age 21, became the youngest player in NFL history every to record a 200-yard receiving game.
7. ….Became the first rookie in the NFL with at least 200 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a single game since Anquan Boldin in 2003 (217 yards at Detroit, Sept. 7).
8.…Gained the most receiving yards by a rookie in a single game since Justin Blackmon had 236 yards at Houston on Nov. 18, 2012). However, Blackmon's totals were achieved in an overtime contest. Without overtime, Boldin's 217 yards are the highest mark.
9.…Increased his total for the last three games to 458 receiving yards, becoming the first Buccaneer ever to have at least 450 receiving yards in a three-game stretch for the team. Bryant held the previous record at 435, in the same three-game streak as mentioned above.
10.…Increased his total for the last three games to five touchdown receptions, becoming the second Buccaneer ever to accomplish that in a three-game stretch for the team. TE Jimmie Giles had seven touchdown catches in a three-game stretch in 1985, beginning with a four-score game at Miami and following up with one against New England and two more at the N.Y. Giants.
11.…Became the first Buccaneer with two receptions of 50 or more yards in the same game since Antonio Bryant, at Carolina, 12/8/08 (52 and 50t). Overall, he's the sixth Buc to do that, and it has happened seven times (Kevin House did it twice, while Morris Owens, Charles Wilson, Jacquez Green and Bryant all did it once).
12.…Became the first Buccaneers rookie to record three consecutive games with at least one touchdown reception since Mike Williams did it in the last three games of the 2010 campaign.
13.…Caught at least seven passes for the third game in a row (actually, *exactly *seven receptions in each game), becoming the first Buccaneer to post three straight games with at least seven receptions since Keyshawn Johnson from Dec. 2 to Dec. 9, 2001.
14.…Recorded 140 yards after halftime, the third-highest total for any player in the second half of a game this season. Green Bay's Jordy Nelson and Pittsburgh's Martavis Bryant share the top mark with 143, coincidentally both in games against the New York Jets. Four players have topped that mark in the first half of a game this season, so Evans' total is the seventh-best in any half in 2014.
15.…Upped his 2014 season total of second-half receiving yards to 492, the second-highest total in the league behind the 619 posted by Detroit's Golden Tate in 10 games (Evans has only played in nine games, missing one with an injury).
- Okay, deep breath. Now, before moving on to other Buccaneers, let's see where Evans stands in several season-long charts after his big performance at FedExField. The first matter of note is that Evans jumped up one more spot on the Bucs' single-season rookie receiving yardage chart, and he's very close to taking over third place overall. Here are the top 10 rookie receiving yardage totals in franchise history:
Rank |
Player |
Yards |
1. |
WR Michael Clayton, 2004 |
1,193 |
2. |
WR Mike Williams, 2010 |
964 |
3. |
WR Lawrence Dawsey, 1991 |
818 |
4. |
WR Mike Evans, 2014 |
794 |
5. |
WR Horace Copeland, 1993 |
633 |
6. |
TE Tim Wright, 2013 |
571 |
7. |
FB Mike Alstott, 1996 |
557 |
8. |
WR Kevin House, 1980 |
531 |
9. |
RB James Wilder, 1981 |
507 |
10. |
RB Doug Martin, 2012 |
472 |
- Evans also increased his per-game pace to the point that he is now a serious threat to unseat Clayton as the top rookie receiver in franchise history. If one measures Evans' pace by the number of games the team has played, then he's averaging 79.4 yards per outing, which projects to 1,270 yards over a full 16-game season. If one instead notes that Evans is averaging 88.2 yards in the nine games in which he has played, and extrapolates over the maximum 15 games he could possibly play in by season's end, the projection bumps up to 1,323. That figure would be the third-highest single-season total by any player in franchise annals, after Mark Carrier's 1,422 in 1989 and Vincent Jackson's 1,384 in 2012.
- Evans now leads all NFL rookies with his 794 yards, despite the 2014 class of receivers being one of the most productive of all time. In fact, he ranks 10th in that category among all NFL players, and his 17.3 yards per catch ranks eighth in the league among qualifying players (but not, in fact, first among rookies as Cleveland's Taylor Gabriel has an 18.2-yard average. Listed below are the top seven rookie receivers through Week 11 (the seven that are among the top 50 receiving yardage producers in the NFL), ranked by yards. Evans ranks first in yards per game, second in touchdowns and third in receptions per game.
Player, Team |
G |
Rec. |
Yards |
YPC |
TD |
RPG |
YPG |
Mike Evans, TB |
9 |
46 |
794 |
17.3 |
7 |
5.1 |
88.2 |
Kelvin Benjamin, CAR |
10 |
52 |
768 |
14.8 |
8 |
5.2 |
76.8 |
Sammy Watkins, BUF |
10 |
45 |
649 |
14.4 |
5 |
4.5 |
64.9 |
Jordan Matthews, PHI |
10 |
44 |
558 |
12.7 |
6 |
4.4 |
55.8 |
Brandin Cooks, NO |
10 |
53 |
550 |
10.4 |
3 |
5.3 |
55.0 |
Allen Robinson, JAX |
10 |
48 |
548 |
11.4 |
2 |
4.8 |
54.8 |
Taylor Gabriel, CLE |
10 |
29 |
527 |
18.2 |
1 |
2.9 |
52.7 |
- As for his recent scoring surge, Evans has had more touchdown receptions in the last three games than all but four other Buccaneer rookies had in their entire seasons. Evans has caught Michael Clayton for second place on that list and needs five more over the last seven games to claim the stop spot, as seen in the list below.
Most Receiving Touchdowns in a Season, Buccaneer Rookies
Player, Season…TDs
- WR Mike Williams, 2010…11
2t. WR Michael Clayton, 2004…7
2t. WR Mike Evans, 2014…7
4t. TE Tim Wright, 2013…5
4t. WR Kevin House, 1980…5
**
And now, the rest of the Buccaneers. Obviously, Evans needed somebody to deliver the football on target to have his monstrous day in D.C., and that somebody was the extremely efficient Josh McCown. McCown completed 15 of his 23 passes for 288 yards, giving him an average of 12.52 that ranks as the fourth-best single-game mark in franchise history. It is the best yards-per-attempt a Buccaneer passer has ever achieved in a road game.
Highest Yards Per Pass Attempt, Buccaneers, Single-Game
Player |
Opp.-Date |
YPA |
|
vs. GB-9/13/92 |
14.52 |
|
vs. IND-9/11/94 |
13.04 |
|
vs. KC-10/14/12 |
12.62 |
4. Josh McCown |
at WAS-11/16/14 |
12.52 |
|
vs. Chicago-12/20/80 |
12.07 |
- McCown's efficient passing earned him a passer rating of 137.5 on Sunday against Washington. That's tied for the 11th-best mark in Buccaneer history, coincidentally equaling a single game each for his two most recent predecessors under center in Tampa. Mike Glennon had a 137.5 rating against Atlanta last Nov. 17 and Josh Freeman had the same mark against San Diego on Nov. 11, 2012. It is the second-best passer rating McCown has ever posted in a single-game in his career, trailing the 141.9 he put up against Dallas last year on Dec. 9 as a member of the Chicago Bears. McCown has a rating of better than 100 in four of his last nine starts, dating back to last season.
- Johnthan Banks' 19-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first score of his two-year NFL career, recorded on his sixth interception and his third pick of this season. He is now tied for the most interceptions by any player who entered the league in 2013.
LB Danny Lansanah has three interceptions this season and had helped the Bucs tie for the league lead in pick-sixes
- The Buccaneers now have three pick-sixes in 2014, tied with Green Bay for the NFL lead in that category. LB Danny Lansanah, who recorded his third interception of the season on the first play from scrimmage on Sunday did not take that one to the house but previously scored on interceptions against Atlanta and New Orleans.
- Speaking of Lansanah's interception Griffin's first pass of the day, it marked the first time in 13 years that the Buccaneers have picked off a pass on the first play of the game. The last player to accomplish the feat was the Hall of Fame-bound Ronde Barber, who did it to the Chicago Bears and quarterback Jim Miller on Nov. 18, 2001.
- Also, Lansanah's three interceptions are the most by any NFL linebacker this season and are tied for the seventh-most in a single season by a Buccaneers linebacker.
- One more note combining the picks by Banks and Lansanah: Both of those takeaways occurred in the first quarter, and that's a rarity for the Buccaneers. The last time a Tampa Bay defense had two interceptions before the first quarter was over was on Nov. 5, 2000, against the Atlanta Falcons.
- The Buccaneers' defense also racked up six sacks of Griffin, its most in a single game since hitting Buffalo with six of them last Dec. 8. It is just the fourth game with six or more sacks for Tampa Bay's defense in the last five years and just the sixth such occurrence in the last 10 years; since the team started tracking situational records in such categories in 1996, the Bucs are 18-5 when they get at least six sacks from their defense.
- Five different Buccaneer players were involved in creating those six sacks, all of them defensive linemen: DE Jacquies Smith had a career-high 2.0 sacks (to give him 3.0 on the season and in his career) and All-Pro DT Gerald McCoy accounted for 1.5. He split his with DE T.J. Fatinikun, giving the latter player the first sack (or partial sack) of his career. DE Michael Johnson and DT Clinton McDonald contributed one sack each. In the 2013 Buffalo game mentioned above, seven different Buccaneers had a hand in producing the seven sacks, which tied a team record set in 1999, but four of those players were back-seven defenders. The last time five different defensive linemen had at least a half-sack in a single game for the Buccaneers was on Nov. 21, 2010. The Bucs had six sacks in San Francisco on that afternoon, split between six different defenders. One of those six was LB Adam Hayward, but the rest were all down linemen: Stylez G. White (1.5), Michael Bennett (1.0), Alex Magee (1.0), Gerald McCoy (1.0) and Al Woods (0.5).