Again, relevant defensive plays where he is in the game and has some bearing on outcomes.
1) 1st & 10 from <25. Evans in Box. Looks like 3 Deep Zone. That would make Evans responsibility Flat and In-Cuts his side. He gets combo-routed with WR in-cut and TB Swing to his side. He moves toward the first thing he sees (TB) and vacates window to WR. Completion at 10 yards and 2 guys rally to get WR down at 11 (including Evans).
This is the sort of "eye discipline" stuff I've talked about with him. When he is in box in C3 or 2 Deep in C2, he has a tendency to get influenced by the first thing he sees (like a Square-In behind Lavonte, who fails to get his own depth and is influenced by a Cross in front of him, and then he loses the Corner/Bench route on his side).
2) 3rd & 4 from <42. Evans in Box. This appears to be a man look. A pair of Stop routes at sticks to his side. He gets off his coverage immediately and smashes the WR who, nonetheless, hangs on for first down.
Regardless of the lack of PD, this is pretty good stuff. WR will remember that (legal hit in NFL).
3) 1st & 10 from >47. 2 deep. Sweep Evans side. Hesitates for the slightest of moments and then gets down hill. Takes great angle to the ball carrier and is at LoS in a flash, under control. 1 on 1 in the open field with RB. Grabs and flings RB out for 1 yard gain.
Great stuff here.
4) 1st & 10 from >22. 2 deep but both safeties outside of hashes due to formation. Lead to opposite side of field from Evans. Does a good job with pursuit angle and getting involved in tackle, but its 12 yards downfield.
This is awful A&M defense. Evans did his job.
5) 1st & Goal from >9. Looks like C2 Man. Evans is immediately toward the LoS so he must have seen this on film or otherwise sniffed it out. Another lead play, snuffed out for 2 yard gain and Evans is in on the tackle.
Very good stuff.
6) 2nd & Goal from >7. Evans in box. Inside handoff, reverse, run-pass option. Evans looks stays home but several blockers out front. Looks like the entire A&M defense just went HURP DURP as there is no one anywhere. Walks in, but Evans gives him a lick at the goal line.
Impossible to get anything out of this play.
7) 1st & 10 from <20. 2 deep. Pistol Counter to Evans side. Both pulling OL get out in space. Evans doesn't have much of a chance here, but he evades the OL squaring him up and turns the play back inside of him. I would have liked to have seen him get dirty here and at least get to the runners feet and slow him up (that would be elite Safety play rather than just "hey, I did my job" play). 16 yard gain.
God the A&M front 7 is awful. Evans did what he could.
8) 3rd & 4 from <13. 2 deep. Bunch formation combo route Evans side. He reads the Bench route, undercuts it and forces an incompletion.
Great stuff here.
9) 1st & 10 from <19. 2 deep. Exact same play as (7 above). This time Front 7 plays better. Evans is a little slow reading things and getting downhill. He is 1 on 1 at 4 yards downfield and RB powers through him for another 4 yards for 8 yard gain.
Not good here. Should have been a 4, 5 yard gain at most.
10) 2nd & 2 from <27. 2 deep zone. Inside Zone Read Option. This is a mess by the A&M defense. End and CB both lose contain. Evans misreads this bad and goes with TB (3 steps before he has to change direction). He gets back and walks the QB out of bounds who kept it for a 12 yard gain.
Awful A&M D, but Evans made this much worse. Misread probably turned a 5-7 yard gain into a 12 yard gain.
11) 3rd & 9 from <39. Looks like Evans as Deep Safety. And holy crap is he deep. 18 yards off LoS at snap. I do not understand this. At all. Anyway, I can't tell if this is a combo coverage or Man coverage because someone lets the slot on wide side of field run a free Drive route unmolested (might be broken coverage), but it looks like most everyone else is in Man. Anyway, QB hits window, WR catches in stride, and Evans runs him down 1t 11 after 50 yard gain.
Like (6), impossible to get anything out of this play.
12) 1st & 10 from >14. Evans single high Safety. TB screen to short side of field. Front 7 sniffs it out and has TB wrapped up. Evans is just sort of picking daisys rather than rallying to the ball. TB somehow gets out of it and turns a 3 yard loss into a 7 yard gain where Evans meets him and gets driven back a yard.
This is not good. Big time loaf plus lack of aggression/physicality on the tackle.
13) 2nd & 3 from >7. Looks like 5 Across Goal-line Zone here against spread. QB draw. Evans late reading and reacting. Would have been TD (Evans has bad angle), but Mike fights traffic and makes great play. 1st down anyway.
14) 1st & 10 from <40. 2 Deep. Evans extremely late reading and reacting to inside hand-off, but gets near the pile after 8 yard gain.
Not great.
15) 2nd & 6 from >42. 2 (way) Deep. Outside zone other way from Evans. Gets to landmark and is 7 yards from pile when RB gets 6 yard gain, 1st down.
16) 1st & 10 from <8. 2 Deep. Shotgun Counter away from Evans. Well blocked and out the gate. Evans chases him down and knocks him out after 44 yard gain.
17) 2nd & 10 from >44. 2 Deep. Quick Swing route to RB Evans side Awful effort by A&M defenders. 2 tackles broken. Poor effort by Evans to rally to the ball. Could have stopped him for 4-5 yard gain, but he ends up draggin him down for 8 after the broken tackles.
Not great here.
18) 3rd & 2 from >36. Evans in box. Very slow to read and react to inside handoff. Lets RT find him at second level, get angle on him, engage him and take him out of play. 1st down.
Probably wouldn't have made the play, but not great here. Big time win for RT.
19) 3rd & 6 from <49. Evans in box. Inside Zone Read Option. QB keeps. SAM clearly has man responsibility on TE on that side and Evans is free. SS here, he has to read this play and get downhill immediately. Again with the lateral chopping and slow read/react. He then takes a really poor angle when he does get South. Evans does recover and would have been in position to be involved, but Mike makes the play for a short gain.
20) 1st & 10 from >45. Evans in Box. Outside Zone run. Again, chopping laterally. Slow read-react. Lets OL wash get to second level and crush his angle to ball carrier. Great play by LB who immediately sees it and blows up an OL into the RBs lap, allowing others (not Evans) to rally and make the TFL.
Still seeing the same poor run support.
21) 2 & 11 from >44. 2 Deep look, but its man with Evans on slot. Drive route. Evans undercuts it beautifully and gets both hands on it. Should have been a pick, but he gets the PD.
Very good stuff here as this is an extremely difficult route to cover in Off-Man.
