NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Kyle Pitts, Panthers

Buccaneers

Bucs WR Mike Evans said he plans to focus on getting more separation on his routes.

“Obviously practice helps, but we’ve been getting some good reps in,” Evans said, via PFT. “It’s a game of inches and everything matters, so I have to be better. I’m used to getting two, three yards of separation on multiple routes. I’ve got to get back to that.”

Evans credited Browns CB Martin Emerson for limiting the amount of space he was able to create over the top.

“I had a lot of ‘go’ routes, a lot of fades and ‘go’ routes,” Evans said. “And [Martin Emerson Jr.] played it [well], he was over top, soft-press, and we just didn’t connect. I definitely caught one, but it didn’t count, and the other three, I’ve got to get a little more separation like I usually do.”

Evans added that QB Tom Brady was reading the coverage properly and it was not on the quarterback.

“Yeah, he’s reading it right,” Evans said. “It’s on me.”

Falcons

With the news that Falcons TE Kyle Pitts‘ season is officially over after knee surgery, it’s fair to officially call it a sophomore slump. He finished 2022 with just 386 receiving yards after topping 1,000 as a rookie. However, Falcons HC Arthur Smith maintains they’re pleased with the progress Pitts made even if it didn’t show up on the stat sheet. 

“We were a much different team in a different place (last year),” Smith said via the Athletic’s Josh Kendall. “You saw a lot of growth with a lot of other jobs we asked him to do (this year). Certainly there are some things you wish had gone different, but you could see that growth as a player.”

“The best thing is you are not wishing and hoping (for improvement),” Smith added. “You know he’s done it, and he’s made different gains in different areas of what we have asked him to do. You are very confident in predicting the future. We have evidence. He has made so much growth, and he’s such an impactful player whether he touches the ball or doesn’t.”

Panthers

Panthers LS J.J. Jansen is set to become the organization’s longest-tenured player after appearing in his 221st regular season game for Carolina in Week 12. 

“I was telling my wife last night, I’ve always been the guy in the back yelling, ‘Speech, speech.’ And then you always laugh at the guy who doesn’t really want to give a speech,” Jansen said, via Joseph Person. “And then all of a sudden, I found myself (with the) roles reversed and I said, ‘Yeah, this is a lot of emotion.’”

Panthers’ interim HC Steve Wilks spoke about Jansen’s 14-year career in Carolina. 

“He’s been here for a while, so he’s seen the good times, as well as some of the times when we’ve struggled. I appreciate his personality, his opinion,” Wilks said. “And I was very shocked in the locker room that he was at a loss for words. That’s very tough for J.J., but he was speechless.”

Jansen said that he debated pursuing a career in accounting signing on with the Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2008.  

“I was debating whether I’d sit for my CPA exam. That was an ongoing conversation I was having with my parents,” Jansen said. “In my mind, I was gonna go to NFL training camp, I was gonna play for a year. It was a cool thing to go to NFL training camp. The idea of being an NFL player was not necessarily (held) in high, high regard.”