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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started today’s game pretty well. They forced a quick punt out the Arizona offense, and seemed on fire on offense, easily making it to the Cardinals’ side of the field.
And then this happened.
Love the decision to take a shot at this location of the field. Don't love targeting Patrick Peterson. Cards INT. pic.twitter.com/pY73FugwPW
— Trevor Sikkema (@TrevorSikkema) September 18, 2016
It’s hard to say whether Mike Evans could have made a better effort for the ball here, you can see him adjusting and trying to push Patrick Peterson further away before the ball arrives. To me, it looks like it’s just out of his range — he definitely has to make the tackle, though.
More importantly, though, that ball was placed in the wrong place. Mike Evans has free rein to run toward the center of the field, but the ball is placed to the outside — asking Evans to make a very tough adjustment against his momentum, through Peterson.
Deep passes are difficult and Winston and Evans have had issues connecting in the past. That wasn’t very visible last week, when the two combined for 99 yards and a touchdown. Here’s to hoping they can fix that during the rest of the game.