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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Is it the scheme designed to get Mike Evans the ball more, or is Chris Godwin not the same receiver he’s been in the past?

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

ANSWER: I think it’s both. It’s obvious that Baker Mayfield has a much better rapport with Mike Evans than he does with Chris Godwin. Evans has 103 targets compared to Godwin’s 85, and the production is starting to become lopsided. Despite the fact that Evans only has eight more catches than Godwin – 61 to 53 – Evans has 1,012 receiving yards and Godwin has just 606. That’s a 406-yard differential, not to mention the fact that Evans has accounted for 10 touchdowns this season compared to Godwin’s two.

At age 30, Evans is still a dominant receiver, and he’s even gotten better as a YAC (yards after catch) receiver with 260 yards after catch this season with five games left. Evans had just 216 YAC last year and only 259 yards in 2020 when the Bucs won Super Bowl LV. Traditionally, Evans has been a deep ball receiver with most of his yards coming when the ball is in the air on downfield throws, whereas Godwin has been the YAC guy. Godwin was 226 YAC this year whereas he had 527 YAC last year.

At age 28 and coming off a significant knee injury in 2021, Godwin might in fact be losing a step. New offensive coordinator Dave Canales has Godwin lining up outside about 30% more this season rather than in the slot, where he’s played primarily since 2019. Yet Godwin just isn’t creating enough separation and winning enough one-on-ones to get more targets from Mayfield.

The decision to move Godwin outside was due in part to trying to keep him healthier. When he played in the slot and was often a blocker at the point of attack in the run game, he took a beating. One has to wonder if those injuries have taken a toll on his ability to produce at a high enough level to justify his $20 million salary. Evans is in a contract year and is clearly outplaying him, and Godwin enters a contract year in 2024. It will be interesting to see what happens in the offseason.

QUESTION: A three-point win at home over the worst team in the NFL? A win is a win, but other than Mike Evans being elite and Antoine Winfield Jr. being an All-Pro, what positives are there from this awful game?

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. and Panthers QB Bryce Young – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Well, for one more week, the Bucs’ playoff hopes remain alive. With five games left, the upcoming game against the Falcons in Atlanta is as make-or-break as it gets. A win and the Bucs improve to 6-7 and gain the lead in the division. A loss and the Falcons sweep the Bucs, who fall to 5-8, and Atlanta remains perfect in the division and is in the driver’s seat to win the NFC South. Tampa Bay would have to win four straight games to possibly make the playoffs as a Wild Card team and that would seem improbable given that the last time the Bucs won back-to-back games was the first two of the season.

Yes, Mike Evans and Antoine Winfield Jr. had elite games on offense and defense for Tampa Bay. Their efforts alone were the reason the Bucs beat the lowly Panthers. The fact it was a three-point game speaks volumes. If Tampa Bay has any postseason aspirations, the team will need more elite-type performances from others – not just Evans and Winfield.

Looking at the remaining five games objectively, it’s hard to imagine the Bucs winning four out of the last five, which would get Tampa Bay to 9-8 and in position to make the postseason. Beating Atlanta will be difficult enough, but winning at Green Bay in two weeks where head coach Matt LeFleur is undefeated in December, and at home against Jacksonville, a rising AFC power, seems improbable.

QUESTION: Big picture, is it better for the Bucs to put it together for a few weeks and make the playoffs or just fall apart and get a high draft pick?

Bucs DT Vita Vea and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Covering the Bucs from 2008-2019 when there were only three winning seasons and no playoff berths during a 12-year span, it is essential for any team to maximize its playoff possibilities because there is no telling how long it will take to get back to the postseason. If the Bucs have a chance to make a playoff run – and that is the case this year in another down season in the NFC South – it would behoove the team and the fan base to rally for that occasion.

I don’t think falling apart just to get a high draft pick is really worth it given the fact that first-round picks are not always a sure thing. Yes, general manager Jason Licht drafted a future Hall of Famer in Mike Evans with the No. 7 overall pick in 2014, but running back Cadillac Williams (No. 5, 2005), defensive end Gaines Adams (No. 4, 2007), safety Mark Barron (No. 7, 2012) and quarterback Jameis Winston (No. 1, 2015) were Top 10 picks who largely did not pan out or underwhelmed for Bruce Allen, Mark Dominik and Licht throughout the years.

Yet defensive tackle Vita Vea (No. 12, 2018), offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs (No. 13, 2020) and defensive tackle Calijah Kancey (No. 19, 2023) are a few of the players who have been selected outside the Top 10 that have panned out in the last six years alone. Vea and Wirfs have become Pro Bowlers and Kancey has Pro Bowl potential. The Bucs even drafted a Pro Bowl guard in Davin Joseph with the 23rd overall pick in 2006.

Tampa Bay currently has the 10th overall pick due to the team’s 5-7 record. Yet the Bucs are one game out of first place in the division and will have the lead in the NFC South due to tiebreakers if they beat the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday. I think Todd Bowles has to win the NFC South and win a home playoff game to show the necessary improvement to keep his job. We’ll see how it plays out.

A loss in Atlanta pretty much ends Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes. A victory means the Bucs are still alive.

QUESTION: My worry is that Devin White will go somewhere and be a stud. Then we will find out it was Todd Bowles that was the issue and not White.

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts and Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Well, Devin White has had a chance to be a stud here in Tampa Bay for five years. He’s been in Todd Bowles’ system the whole time. He had two really good, ascending seasons in 2019 and 2020 where he helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV. White has had games and stretches where he’s played upper echelon football and has been a stud.

But over the last three seasons, especially the last two years, something has changed within him. He doesn’t play as fast and he hasn’t played as hard as he needs to. He doesn’t shed blocks nearly as well. The hustle isn’t always there. White’s big plays are few and far between. He plays for a head coach in Todd Bowles who has coddled him and has only wanted him to succeed, so White has had every incentive to play well in Tampa Bay – especially this season, which is his contract year.

White has not only hurt himself in terms of seeking a lucrative contract in free agency, but also the Bucs with his poor and inconsistent play this season. As I wrote about in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5, White will not be re-signed next year by Tampa Bay. Perhaps White’s career will rebound elsewhere. Perhaps he needs to be humbled by a cheap, one-year prove-it deal with another team. Or maybe he just will never live up to his enormous potential due to his special athleticism. Time will tell.

QUESTION: Our last consistent run attacks consisted of fullbacks Erik Lorig and Javorski Lane in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Rachaad White has gotten better, but I feel if we had a true fullback it would help a great deal. Meanwhile the Raiders released Jakob Johnson, who blocked for Josh Jacobs’ career 1,600-yard year.

ANSWER: It’s an interesting point, yet the Raiders released Jakob Johnson and placed him on the team’s practice squad for a reason. Josh Jacobs ran for 1,653 yards in 2022, yet has only rushed for 771 yards this year, as his yards per carry has plummeted from 4.9 last year to 3.5 in 2023. I don’t follow the Raiders or study them, so I’m presuming based on this transaction that the team viewed Johnson as part of the reason.

The Bucs just don’t use a fullback and don’t have one on the roster. Occasionally blocking tight end Ko Kieft will line up in the backfield, just as former Bucs tight end Cam Brate would do a few times back in Bruce Arians’ offense, which also didn’t deploy a fullback. Dave Canales prefers to have extra tight ends at the line of scrimmage rather than in the backfield to block. That’s just his preference and I don’t see the Bucs using a fullback any time soon.

QUESTION: Hi Scott, what keeps you at Pewter Report all these years? Did you have any other opportunities to go elsewhere?

Scott Reynolds and Ronde Barber – Photo by: Ashley Reynolds/PR

ANSWER: This is my 28th season covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and I’m still enjoying it immensely. I have had some opportunities to leave and work for other organizations over the years – even opportunities at ESPN on a few occasions many years ago. But Pewter Report is my passion. I’m proud to say I’ve had a huge role in Pewter Report’s (formerly Buccaneer Magazine) rise to prominence and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of building this great media enterprise throughout the years.

I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with some outstanding people, such as Pewter Report’s owner and president Hugh MacArthur, who has given me free rein to build and shape our company and our Bucs coverage, and the many talented writers and contributors over the years. From longtime mainstays like Jim Flynn to Mark Cook to Trevor Sikkema, to today’s amazing Pewter Report team of Matt Matera, Bailey Adams, Josh Queipo and Adam “Sly” Slivon – and others in between – I’ve been fortunate to work with some great people and gifted Pewter Reporters along the way.

As many of you know, I went to Kansas State University from 1990-95 and witnessed the rise of Wildcats football under legendary Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder up close, working in the sports information department and covering K-State football editorially. One of the biggest lessons I learned from Snyder was to stay put, to create, to build and to enjoy the fruits of your labor where you are. When K-State was a perennial Top 15 team in the late 1990s, Snyder had the chance to leave to coach Michigan State, LSU and UCLA among others for a bigger payday. But he remained loyal to the Wildcats. He never left, and coached there for 27 years.

I’ve taken that same approach with you Pewter People. You’ve been so good to me and Pewter Report through the years – you deserve the best coverage of your favorite team and I’m going to continue to do my absolute best to give it to you. I love what I do. This is my passion. I’ve worked hard to build Pewter Report, but I know I’m extremely blessed at the same time.

Every year brings new players, new stories and a new outcome in Tampa Bay. I can’t see myself doing anything else, and am grateful for your continued support, Pewter People.