Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans is set to have an MRI on Tuesday for his injured hamstring. Evans tried to play through his tweaked hamstring and it ended up being costly in a 41-31 loss to the Ravens on Monday Night Football.

After catching a 25-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give Tampa Bay an early 7-0 lead, Evans dropped a would-be touchdown in the second quarter that would have given the Bucs a 17-7 lead over Baltimore due to re-aggravating his hamstring injury. Evans was on the ground writhing in pain for several minutes before being helped to the locker room by the team’s training staff. He was immediately ruled out for the rest of the game.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Evans will undergo an MRI to see if he tore his hamstring. The Bucs’ leading touchdown producer is certainly out for Sunday’s game at Atlanta.

The fear is that Evans’ hamstring injury is severe enough where he might not be able to return until after the bye week for the Week 12 game at New York on November 24. The Bucs play the Falcons this Sunday followed by a Monday Night Football game at Kansas City versus the Chiefs and then a home game against the 49ers before the bye on November 17.

Tampa Bay just put cornerback Jamel Dean on injured reserve for four weeks with a hamstring injury. It seems likely that will be Evans’ fate as well.

Mike Evans’ 1,000-Yard Season Streak, Bucs’ Playoff Hopes In Serious Jeopardy

Bucs WRs Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

Even when Mike Evans returns to action, he’ll have far fewer games to reach 1,000 yards and continue his NFL record of 10 consecutive seasons to start a career with 1,000 receiving yards. Evans has 26 catches for 335 yards (12.9 avg.) and six touchdowns through the first six games of the season.

Assuming he misses the next three games prior to the bye week as he rehabs and recovers from his injury, Evans will have seven games left to reach 1,000 yards. He’ll need to average 95 yards per game to hit 1,000 yards, which will be incredibly tough to do.

Even when Evans put up 1,255 yards last year in a Pro Bowl season, he only averaged 73.8 yards per game. And that was with Chris Godwin drawing some of the attention of opposing defenses. Whenever Evans returns to action, he’ll face constant double teams, which will make his run at 1,000 yards this season incredibly difficult.

Even more difficult is the path to the postseason for the Bucs without Godwin for the rest of the season and without Evans for the next few games. Tampa Bay has won three straight NFC South titles and has made the playoffs four straight seasons. With every team in the NFC North currently having a winning record, the Bucs may need to win the division again to secure a playoff spot. The NFC South may not produce a Wild Card team due to the strength of the NFC North division, which may produce three playoff teams.