If I would have told you that the Bucs would have 38 points and 359 yards, yet Mike Evans and Chris Godwin would have relatively unimpactful games, you’d have asked how Antonio Brown made it back on the field. But Evans and Godwin combined for just 40 yards on seven catches despite Brown’s absence. Neither player scored on Sunday, breaking a streak of four straight games with a touchdown for Evans.

Evans caught three passes for 16 yards against the Colts, while Godwin added four for 24 yards. So why was the star duo such a small part of the game plan?

“A lot of soft coverage, double coverage around them,” Arians said on Bucs Total Access this week. “No need to force it. You don’t need to force it. We had them open some. Sometimes the reads just don’t send you there.”

I think Arians brings up some good points here. There were definitely plays where Indianapolis, like so many other defenses, dropped out their defense and played soft coverage to prevent bigger plays to Evans and Godwin. In the red zone, Evans was bracketed at times too, drawing double coverage. The Colts were clearly focused on stopping those two receivers, especially anywhere down the field.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But there were also a few plays where one or the other got open. Arians makes an interesting statement here, saying the reads don’t always send you there. It’s important for fans to understand that quarterbacks most often start progressions to the side of the field that best matches up with their pre-snap coverage indicators. In other words, if Tom Brady thinks the coverage looks more favorable for the called passing concept to the right, he’ll start there. And he’ll do that regardless of where Evans and Godwin are in the formation. That’s how quarterback play works.

However, if you’re the Bucs, the key is finding ways to consistently get Evans and Godwin in place to be primary options more often. In other words, if a concept will be favorable against an opposing coverage, find out how to get Evans or Godwin involved in that concept. That hasn’t happened enough in recent weeks.

Over the past three games, Godwin has 17 catches for 146 yards and one touchdown. Evans has found the end zone just fine, but has three catches or less in three of his past four games. With Antonio Brown sidelined for at least the next two weeks, the Bucs need more production from their top two receivers.

Right now, Leonard Fournette has 51 catches to Evans’ 50 this season. If the Bucs want to sustain a top-tier passing attack, that trend can’t continue. Even if Arians seems quite found of Fournette’s heavy involvement in the Tampa Bay passing game.

“He’s a 240-pound back that can run,” Arians said on Monday. “And usually he’s coming out the back of Mike Evans’ side. You know [Evans] is being doubled, so you’re going to have soft coverage. Those four and five-yard checkdowns turn into 11 [yards] real quick. Then he breaks a tackle – like he did in a two-minute drill – and it is a 13-[yard gain]. So, don’t force it down the field. [Fournette] is doing a heck of a job in the passing game. It was a nice catch-and-run on the touchdown and a really good throw by Tom [Brady].”

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: USA Today

Ok, let’s clear a few things up here. Fournette’s “catch-and-run” was a 4-yard touchdown catch. He caught the ball, took a couple steps and was in the end zone untouched. Not exactly tough stuff, as the concept got Fournette the easiest touchdown of his life. Against the Colts, Fournette had seven catches for 31 yards. That’s an average of 4.4 yards per catch. On the season, Fournette is averaging 6.9 yards per catch. That mark is good enough for 22nd amongst all running backs in the NFL. Not exactly an 11-yard average there, as Arians indicated. Fournette also leads the team with six drops this season.

On Sunday, Fournette forced just one missed tackle after the catch. Considering how many one-on-ones he gets in the open field after the catch, that’s not a great mark. During the 2021 season, Fournette has forced just ten missed tackles as a receiver, with four of them coming against Miami, per PFF. He’s done a good job of falling forward through tackles, but the massive sample size of his career suggests he’s a solid, not great, receiver. This is not Alvin Kamara or Christian McCaffrey. If Fournette is dominating your passing game touches/targets, you’re not going to have a very good offense.

That’s not a knock on Fournette either. He’s been arguably the most improved player on the team this year. But there is a ceiling on his abilities that Mike Evans and Chris Godwin don’t share. The top priority for the Bucs moving forward has to be to find a way to keep Evans or Godwin involved, regardless of what the defense is doing. Both of them don’t need to go off every game, but one or the other should be more of a priority than they’ve been over the past month.

You can listen to the fantastic entirety of Arians interview with team reporter Casey Phillips right here.