Buccaneers' Dirk Koetter explains sacks, Mike Evans' poor game

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) grabs a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass for 12 yards in front of New Orleans Saints linebacker De...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) grabs a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass for 12 yards in front of New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis (56) on September 9, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI

By The Sports Xchange

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter spent time on Monday explaining the sacks his team gave up and the poor performance by wide receiver Mike Evans in Sunday's 42-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

The Bucs have yielded 12 sacks over the past three games, and all three sacks Tampa Bay gave up on Sunday were by Mario Addison.

Koetter said Addison was aided by miscommunication by the Tampa Bay offense.

"We got beat by communication instead of getting beat physically," Koetter said.

Koetter said communication problems led to Addison's first two sacks.

"We didn't communicate right, so we didn't have the right guys blocking the right guys," Koetter said. "On the one where we were in a two-back formation, one of our linemen made a call he shouldn't have made and that threw everybody off. We had everybody blocking the wrong guys."

Those two sacks resulted in a loss of 19 yards, and helped give Carolina a short field when Tampa Bay punted.

Addison's final sack was simply a matter of Addison beating offensive tackle Donovan Smith. Not only did Addison sack Tampa Bay quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but forced a fumble, although it was recovered by center Ryan Jensen.

Evans had his worst day of the season. He was targeted 10 times, but had just one reception for 16 yards. It was the first time this season he had fewer than four catches, or fewer than 58 receiving yards in a game. He was defended by Carolina's James Bradberry, but Koetter did not think that was the problem.

"Mike had a rough day yesterday," Koetter said. "That may have been as poor as I've seen Mike play in my time here. Typically he has had good days against Bradberry, so we had a lot game-planned for him."