Surprised the Bucs didn't throw to Mike Evans late? So was Evans.
Eduardo Encina, Tampa Bay Times, published 28 October 2019

Mike Evans sat and stared blankly at his locker. On the stat sheet, Evans had a remarkable day, catching 11 balls for 198 yards. He caught two touchdown passes, the second of which made him the Bucs' all-time franchise leader in receptions, passing James Wilder. Evans also overtook Wilder for second on the Bucs' all-time list for touchdowns with 47.

But those things were no reason to celebrate following Tampa Bay's 27-23 loss Sunday at Tennessee. Evans didn't get targeted in the fourth quarter, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise when he was told so. After the offense committed four turnovers, Evans and his Bucs teammates were left to contemplate another game they gave away.

Evans was frank in his assessment, that the better team didn't win on Sunday. "At this point, I (expletive) hate losing,” Evans said. "Everybody's face is down in the locker room. I want to see everybody jumping up in the locker room and being happy, especially against a team we're better than.

"Obviously, if you watch the game, we've better than them. We gave them the game. We can't do that in the NFL. They're still NFL players. They're solid but we're a better team.”

For most of the day, the Titans had no answer for Evans, who had three receptions of 29 yards or longer, including catches of 43 and 46 yards in which Evans used his size to outmatch defensive backs. So Evans was certainly surprised he didn't have an opportunity in the fourth quarter.

"They were playing a lot of man coverage,” Evans said. "They played a lot of two-man coverage in the second half, but I made played against that coverage early on. That's just how football goes, I guess.”

Evans had 137 receiving yards on seven catches in the first half, including a late second-quarter touchdown that cut the Titans' lead to 17-15. Evans made four catches for 83 yards on that one drive alone, including a 46-yarder and the 9-yard catch that ended the drive.

Evans' frustration was shared by receiver Chris Godwin, who took the blame for two Winston throws that went awry in the first half, one that was an interception and another that was initially a pick before it was overturned. Godwin was the intended receiver on both. Godwin was held to four catches for 43 yards after coming in with a league-leading 110.3-yard per game average.

"We've got too much talent in here, too many guys who can do a lot of stuff for us to be where we are," Godwin said. "A lot of it just comes down to use just doing our job. It seems like we're all just taking turns messing up and if we want to be where we want to be, if we want to start stacking up wins, we've got to eliminate those. That's what's frustrating.”