Buccaneers
Buccaneers WR Mike Evans commented on watching the team from the sidelines during his hamstring injury. He is excited about his return, along with CB Jamel Dean who has been activated from injured reserve.
“It hurt to see your team out there fighting in really tough, close games that we could have won,” Evans said, via Buccaneers.com. “I wish I could [have been] out there to help them. I’m excited for this week.vI feel really good. Obviously, the Bye Week helped, but I feel better than I did going into the Ravens game. That’s a good sign.”
“We (Jamel Dean) were talking about that during rehab. We were out here running, working really hard to try and get back…We know how important this stretch is of the season, so we made it a point to really work and make sure that we’re back and hopefully help the team win.” Evans added.
Evans also spoke about the concerns that he could re-aggravate his injury and the prospect of extending his streak of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
“No, this week definitely built my confidence, and last week, going through all the conditioning I had to do,” Evans mentioned. “I feel really good. Like I said, I feel better than I did going into the Ravens game. I was a little hobbled going into that game. I probably should have sat that one out, but I always try to tough it through. This time off definitely helped me, so I’m confident. (The streak) is there. Obviously, it’s going to be tough. It’s something that…Obviously, I’m thinking about a lot of other people. I’m just thinking about winning – playing winning ball. Things will happen. I’m trying to play and help the team win.”
- Buccaneers OC Liam Coen said they need to get RB Sean Tucker more involved going forward, via Greg Auman.
Falcons
- In his Falcons mailbag, Josh Kendall of The Athletic said he doesn’t believe DC Jimmy Lake will be fired because HC Raheem Morris didn’t sound like he was looking to make a change.
- Kendall thinks the most likely change the defensive staff sees is more involvement from an outside advisor such as Steve Wilks.
Panthers
Panthers UDFA WR Jalen Coker said veteran WR Adam Thielen‘s experience is “invaluable” to their younger receivers.
“Invaluable,” Coker said, via Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer. “I’m so blessed to have someone that’s come from a very similar situation — not to mention, the (similar) attributes: speed, size, catching, route-running types of the things. We match up so well, so when he says something to me, I can almost immediately take that, and I don’t have to mold it into my own way. I can kind of take it exactly how he’s saying it because we have such similar play styles.”
Coker reiterated how Thielen has been “a shoulder to lean on” for everyone.
“I think he’s been the same since when he was healthy,” Coker said. “He’s kind of been a shoulder to lean on, a guy that you can come to with any type of question, and he’s just such a great teammate, such a great … extra coach for us, especially for the young guys. He’s done it, so what a blessing to have him in our room.”
Coker thinks it’s been important for their offense to spread the ball around to multiple players.
“I think you can’t just focus on one guy,” Coker said. “You’ve kind of got to spread it around (defensively). I think that makes us really dangerous. A lot of guys can do a lot of things with the football, so the more we can just get it around, kind of spread out that defense, it’s going to open up the run game even more, too.”
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