The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now officially on a hot streak after winning their first two games of the new season. After their Week 1 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, the Bucs followed it up with a 27-17 win over the Chicago Bears in their first home game of the campaign.
Mike Evans Puts in Massive Performance for Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans played a key role in the victory with six catches for 171 yards and a touchdown. It’s safe to say that the Buccaneers probably wouldn’t have managed to get that win had it not been for the four-time Pro Bowler’s heroics on Sunday.
That’s now two touchdowns in two games for Evans, who has accumulated 12 receptions on 18 targets for 237 total yards in his first two games of the season. At this point, it’s also safe to say that Evans is on a hot streak himself.
Mike Evans Speaks Out on Extreme Heat During Bears Game
After the win, the 30-year-old spoke to reporters to discuss his game-winning performance. Evans, however, took the opportunity to rant about the extreme heat the players had to endure during the game:
“Wow,” Evans said, via Mike Florio of PFT. “So hot. I mean, people would think I’d be used to it. But you can’t get used to this. It’s different.”
“… I mean, in practice, we go hard, right? But in the games, you go a little bit harder, and everybody knows it. So, you know when it’s game time and today, I don’t know. I guess at one o’ clock it’s going to be the hottest it’s going to be. I got some fluids and you know that helped me out a ton.”
Eighty-nine degrees and 69-percent humidity. Those were the conditions Evans and the rest of the players had to play through on Sunday afternoon. Talk about a hot streak, right?
At one point in the second quarter, Evans looked like he was headed for a touchdown after catching a pinpoint pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield. It seemed like the Bucs star just ran out of gas as he was sprinting to the end zone:
70 yards for Mike Evans!
📺: #CHIvsTB on FOX⁰📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/RmhL8IWAmW
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2023
Evans spoke about that particular play after the game as well:
“I was trying to pick my knees up and get there because it’s hard to get those long ones, you know, those long catch and runs and you want to end up in the end zone,” Evans said.
As he said, Mike Evans got some fluids into his system at halftime. He clearly needed them.
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