Bucs Notes: Evans working to make adjustments
Mike Evans leads the Buccaneers with 49 receptions but also has been plagued by dropped passes this season. JASON BEHNKEN/STAFF Published: December 3, 2015 at 08:44 PMTAMPA — WR Mike Evans didn’t play much organized football before being selected seventh overall by the Buccaneers in the 2014 NFL draft.There are times when it shows.Evans leads the Bucs with 49 receptions for 789 yards, but he also has several dropped passes.Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter thinks he knows why.“Mike has struggled a little bit with balls that are underthrown and behind him,” Koetter said. “Maybe he’s just not looking it all the way in. I think that’s something Mike can improve on.”The 6-foot-5 Evans also needs to learn to take better advantage of his size and speed, Koetter said. When balls are underthrown, he could “just slow down a little bit” to draw a pass interference penalty.“But I say that not to be critical,” Koetter said. “When a guy drops a pass, I try not to be the guy saying, ‘Catch the darn ball,’ because, trust me, he knows he should catch it.”The wallBucs rookie LT Donovan Smith had what might have been his worst game of the year in allowing seven quarterback pressures during last week’s 25-12 loss to the Colts. But the performance, Smith said, was not the result of his hitting what many refer to as the “rookie wall.”Good thing, too, because he probably wouldn’t get any sympathy from his head coach if he did.“I’m just not part of the group of people that think that’s an issue,” Lovie Smith said. “Jameis Winston, ‘Hey Jameis, are you getting tired?’ No, I don’t think that’s coming up with him. Kwon Alexander, ‘Are you getting tired?’ Don’t think so.“... With our football team right now, where we’re counting on so many of our younger players, if it is (a problem) they better keep it to themselves.”McCoy on the mendDT Gerald McCoy missed practice Thursday for a second straight day, but he hopes to play Sunday against the Falcons after revealing he had “a small procedure done” on his left hand.McCoy said he injured the hand during the first half of Sunday’s loss to the Colts, but played through it in the second half before undergoing the procedure after the game.McCoy, who recorded his team-leading seventh sack in the first half, had his left ring and middle fingers taped together and struggled to use that hand to fasten buttons on his shirt following the game.Smith would not speculate on McCoy’s availability, saying the procedure was “minor.”Injury updateOthers held out of practice Thursday included DE George Johnson (calf), DE Jacquies Smith (knee) and LB Bruce Carter (concussion). Limited were RT Gosder Cherilus (knee), C Joe Hawley (neck), WR Vincent Jackson (knee), CB Mike Jenkins (quadriceps), TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins (shoulder), and TE Luke Stocker (back). RG Ali Marpet (ankle) and S Keith Tandy (concussion) participated fully.For the Falcons, K Matt Bryant (quad), G Chris Chester (shoulder) and WR Leonard Hankerson (hamstring) did not practice.Roy Cummings
