FAB 5. SR’s BUC SHOTS
• Bucs wide receiver and team captain Russell Shepard heaped a lot of praise on third-year tight end Cameron Brate, who is emerging as a force on Tampa Bay’s offense with five touchdown catches this year. Shepard said Brate’s success is more than just about the Harvard product.

“It’s good for Cam, but more so for the locker room,” Shepard said. “The young guys, the guys that are undrafted, the guys that are drafted that are developing, he’s their hope. You continue to keep working, you continue to keep doing what you do whether you get waived one week, whether you have several older guys in front of you. Keep working, spend time on your craft.”

• The Bucs’ practice squad is loaded with some real promising talent. Wide receivers Donteea Dye and Josh Huff can play in the NFL and have been on active rosters before. Defensive end Channing Ward has promise and has seen some action on the Bucs’ active roster this year during his rookie campaign. Tight end Tevin Westbrook keeps intriguing the club and will likely get a second offseason in Tampa Bay in 2017, and the same could be said for center-guard Josh Allen, who just got moved up from the practice squad since Ben Gottschalk, another former practice squader, was placed on injured reserve.

Bucs CB Javien Elliott – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Defensive end Kourtnei Brown flashed during the preseason and has improved enough for a third stint in Tampa Bay. Keep an eye on cornerback Javien Elliott, who is a real sleeper and has been on the practice squad since Week 1. He has some real developmental potential and he just got promoted to the active roster to replace cornerback Jude Adjei-Barimah.

• Bucs safety Chris Conte applauds the team’s pass rush. Although Tampa Bay didn’t register a sack in Kansas City, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy deflected Alex Smith’s red zone pass at the line of scrimmage and that helped Conte intercept it in the end zone and return it 53 yards to the 50 in what was a game-changing takeaway.

“When you have guys rush the passer in any defense you’re going thrive,” Conte said. “That’s the focal point. You can play any coverage, but if a quarterback has all day to throw he’s going to find somebody open. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate how those guys upfront affect the game. If you look at every good secondary they are playing good football unless there is a good front seven in front of them.”

• The Mike Evans vs. Richard Sherman battle on Sunday will be one for the ages. The titanic clash features Seattle’s 6-foot-3 Pro Bowl cornerback squaring off against a 6-foot-5 Tampa Bay receiver bound for his first Pro Bowl this season.

“I’m looking forward to it, he’s my favorite corner,” Evans said. “I like the way he talks trash and he’s an exciting player to watch. He’s a tall corner and the when the ball is in the air he has long arms and good ball skills. He gets in people’s heads. I think it’s going to be an excited match-up. I’ve been waiting for this day.

“He’s tall, he’s 6-foot-3, but he’s skinny, though. I’ve played against Jimmy Smith from the Ravens, and he’s 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3. And Brandon Browner is tall. I faced him, but Brandon Browner is real thick. [Sherman’s] arms are real long, so we’ll see. He has deceptive [closing speed] and he can jump real high. He has speed and he can run on deep balls. His hips are pretty good for somebody to be 6-foot-3, it’s hard for some of those guys to have real good hips, but he has good hips.”

Seahawks CB Richard Sherman – Photo by: Getty Images

Evans has rarely gone up against another corner that is nearly as tall as he is.

“It’s also vice versa with Sherman,” Tampa Bay receiver Russell Shepard said. “I would also think the vast majority of receivers Sherman goes against are 6-foot and smaller than he is. He dominates and he’s taller than most of them. I think both of them are going against a guy that is out of their norm. It’s going to be very exciting to see guys with so much length and so much range battle out there. You’re going to see crazy plays. You’re going to see ugly plays. It’s going to be about who gets under who’s skin first.

“It’s definitely going to be an exciting match-up. Sherman is an extremely good football player. I had the privilege of seeing him my rookie year up there. I think it’s going to be as good of a challenge for Mike as it is for Rich. When two guys play like that, the biggest thing is not to buy into the matchup and don’t forget the grand scheme of things. But it’s going to be a very competitive match-up between the two.”

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