O.J. Howard & Justin Evans On Injured Reserve
December 20th, 2017
Done for the year
A couple of Bucs rookies had their seasons ended abruptly this afternoon.
Chapter 1 is now closed on Justin Evans and O.J. Howard, who were both injured Monday night.
They joined guard J.R. Sweezy, cornerback Vernon Hargreaves (see stories on home page) and linebacker Adarius Glanton, who all were placed in injured reserve this week.
First-round pick Howard started all 14 games and hauled in six touchdowns out of 26 receptions. He appeared to trash his foot on his first-half TD grab on Monday.
Second-round pick Evans also played in all 14 games (nine starts), showed steady improvement and tied for the team lead in interceptions with three.
Man, the Bucs are deeply wounded. And high-octane Carolina has Greg Olsen back.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:33 pm
What a shame. Totally under-utilized and now headed to the IR.
Evans seemed to be improving, which is a good sign. I don’t think we want to keep seeing TJ Ward out there (I’m holding back Tandyman!).
December 20th, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Time to start raiding NFL practice squads for a look see….
December 20th, 2017 at 1:40 pm
I’m a Justin Evans fan. His tackling seems fine and that seems to be an area a player can naturally improve over time – in terms of feeling the play speed and hte angles he should take.
The thing I love most about Evans is his athletic range and attitude. Look at this play – he literally goes sideline to sideline while the ball is in the air to make the play. The TV angle isn’t great; but if you pause at the 22/23 second mark – you can see he wasn’t even in the picture when the ball was thrown but crossed the entire field in a few seconds to make the play.
The vision and speed to make that play is on an elite level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj9EUSm9RyU
December 20th, 2017 at 1:48 pm
Embrace the Tampa 2 Tank! Move up to a top 5 pick and select either Chubb or Fitzpatrick…Ryan’s 2 cousin/twice removed.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:56 pm
We don’t have to tank to lose the last two games. Don’t see how we win either of them. Draft talk can start now.
December 20th, 2017 at 2:04 pm
Ouch. That is a lot of guys on IR.
I am very busy at the moment, but can someone look up and list everyone we lost so far?
December 20th, 2017 at 2:26 pm
Great just what we need. TJ Ward standing around on defense like he just don’t give a sh!t.
The guy should have been cut at the quarter mark…….Real coaches don’t allow guys to play half azzed.
Still waiting for that culture change we always hear about. Dirk ain’t the guy to get it……He wants a badass football team, so do I.
December 20th, 2017 at 2:37 pm
6 touchdowns on 26 freaking catches…..I will consider the glazers completely football ignorant if they bring back an offensive minded head coach who couldn’t figure out a way to get this guy more touches than that. He could have easily had an Alvin kamara type impact on this offense especially if cam brate did it when he burst in to the scene. What a pathetic coaching staff this is. Next man up cuz dirk will go down on black Monday
December 20th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
Wow….getting slammed…..wonder if losing the bye week had any impact.
Rookie wall, maybe….or probably just bad Buc luck.
I agree that we need to activate practice squad and give our subs a good look….actually, we don’t have a choice.
Also agree about Evans…..we now see what Licht saw in him….I think he will be a great player for us for many years.
‘
December 20th, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Bucsfanman. Didn’t the Bucs Defense look pretty good in the second half???? Other than Keith’s slip on Freeman I actually thought he played quite well. Conte had probably the best game he’s had all season. You still got 2 games left to get on the Tandyman Wagon. But Smith will probably play Ward and reward him instead of Keith for what reason I can’t figure out. Smith should be made to publicly apologize to #37 for not playing him this season. Anywho the Referee slip and Keith’s slip sure had a profound impact on the game. That one really hurt man!!!!
December 20th, 2017 at 2:57 pm
JimmyJack- The realization that TJ Ward will see significantly more playing time just hit me like a freight-train!!! Thanks a lot!!!!
I wish they didn’t rotate so much. I’d be OK if they just trotted Conte and Tandy out all game. At least they try!
December 20th, 2017 at 3:11 pm
OJ had a GREAT rookie year and looks like a future all-pro … and Justin Evans really came on starting in the Patriots game and looks like a solid starter for years to come …
December 20th, 2017 at 3:14 pm
26 catches on 39 targets for 432 yards and 6 touchdowns, his longest reception being a 58 yarder which currently leads the team.
Just imagine how productive he could have been if we had used O.J. as a receiver more often, in every game.
Bring in some one who can actually get the most out of his players and put points on the Board.
December 20th, 2017 at 3:15 pm
bottom line is the bucs jus have had injuries of late sounds like excuse time for your boy joe but he just sucks
December 20th, 2017 at 3:21 pm
OHhhh Chef-Boy ar Deee. We knew it was coming. The..injury Spin setup for this weeks upcoming loss against the Panthers. And for all of you bible swearing, crucifix holding hopefuls? Don’t even think..we are going to march into Carolina and catch them sleeping. Not a fat chance..in Hell!!!
December 20th, 2017 at 3:25 pm
screw ward….I rather see Isaiah Johnson….at least he’ll play hungry…GO BUCS!!!!
December 20th, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Both players played very well this season. Evans started off pretty shaky but improved quite a bit – meanwhile OJ was solid all year. As I said during the draft that those expecting big stat years from these guys know nothing about football, TE and S are the two most difficult positions for a rookie to learn – and very very very few players ever step in from day one and play at a high level. I’d say OJ actually did step in from day 1 and play at a high level, meanwhile with Evans it took longer for him to get up to speed. I’m not convinced that Evans will be anything more than serviceable player, but on a team that refuses to NOT start Chris Conte, a serviceable player at either safety is a huge upgrade.
December 20th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
six touchdowns out of 26 receptions.
———-
That’s just stupit who does this?
December 20th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
Jameis and O.J. are gonna tear it up for years.
December 20th, 2017 at 10:06 pm
@I’m a Tandyman Bucsfan,
Dude, there’s no way anybody was gong to tackle Freeman in that situation. It didn’t matter if Tandy slipped or not, he had the entire field to work with, and was going full speed. That’s not on Tandy one bit, even though the slip just made him look bad.
December 20th, 2017 at 10:27 pm
We have a lot of our starters on IR! Can’t expect to win against good teams with that many backups. Came damn close Monday night though!
December 20th, 2017 at 10:29 pm
Hawaiian Buc. You are exactly right. Glad your a realist and calls it the way it really was. Yep him and the Ref both looked bad. But with Tandy back there I thought our defense looked much better than when Ward was in there. Sure wish #37 could have played along side Evans this season. Don’t think we would have ended up the way the season has gone!!! Still a Tandyman Bucs Fan though!!!!! Merry Christmas my man.
December 21st, 2017 at 7:53 am
@Tandyman- Please email the application for the Tandy(man) Fan Club. My hope is that with enough participation, we can begin a petition to insure Tandy, NOT Ward sees the field for the rest of the season!!!!
Tandy! Tandy! Tandy!
December 21st, 2017 at 8:11 am
Allright!!! My favorite poster has joined me in the battle to fight for #37. Thought he played well again. Looking forward to seeing what Smith does Sunday with Ward and Keith. Would be good for Keith to show well these next two games since he hasn’t gotten to play this year due to the Clowns! I would really like for him to remain a Buc!!!! But time will tell. I know there are other teams interested. Go Bucs let’s get these next 2 and shock the World!!!!