Before Denver’s game against Tampa Bay on Sunday, Broncos coach Sean Payton already was well-acquainted with the problem presented by Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans.
During his tenure as the coach of the New Orleans Saints, Payton faced Tampa Bay twice annually in the NFC South and compiled an 11-5 record against the Bucs with Evans in the lineup.
For 10 of those games, Payton had cornerback Marshon Lattimore available to match against Evans, and the Saints went 7-3 in those contests.
With the Broncos, Payton was prepping cornerback Patrick Surtain II for Evans.
“We were talking about it at the start of the week,” Payton said after Denver’s 26-7 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday, “and I asked him, I said, ‘Hey, if (Saints coach) Dennis Allen wants to do a quick trade for one week, I’ll take Lattimore and you go there, and then we’ll bring you back.’ You know, giving him a hard time.
“Lattimore always has defended Evans well, so we went and got 35 snaps of bump-and-run Lattimore and Evans and put it in his hot folder. Talked about it on the plane. He responded, so it was good. No trade.”
According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Surtain covered Evans on 24 of his 34 routes and yielded only an 8-yard reception.
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Before the game, Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield acknowledged Surtain ranked as one of the NFL’s best, but said, “Mike’s our guy.”
“That’s what a guy like Pat Surtain can offer a defense is true, one-on-one shut one side of the field down,” Mayfield had said. “He’s that type of player. He’s got unbelievable ball skills. Can run with guys. Understands concepts and can read the patterns really well. He’s a guy, he’s going to have his PBUs and make plays on the ball. We have to design things to get Mike some matchups other than just him. But also we trust Mike in one-on-one scenarios regardless.”
Evans is in his 11th NFL season and had more than 1,000 receiving yards in each of the previous 10. On Sunday, Evans had two receptions for 17 yards.
“It’s something that I looked forward to throughout the week,” Surtain said about shadowing Evans. “Obviously, Mike, he’s a great player. Just him and his body of work is pretty incredible, so matching up with a guy like that is pretty awesome. I just had to lock in the details and make sure I limited him, not allow him to get explosives down the field. I did my part there, and I just feel as a team, as a whole defensively we did what we did and we played how we prepped during the week.”
Surtain shared the secondary’s success with the Broncos’ pass rush. Denver sacked Mayfield seven times on Sunday.
“It’s a great feeling knowing they’re getting back there, knowing there’s a short amount of time for the QB to get a read off,” Surtain said. “It just makes your job much easier, and it makes us more aggressive on the back end.”
The former Alabama All-American faced Evans as part of what Payton called “a good stretch of receivers.” Surtain played against D.K. Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks and former Hoover High School star George Pickens of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Broncos’ previous two games.
Next Gen Stats show Surtain has given up six receptions for 63 yards in three games this season.
Surtain likely could face New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson next.
“I feel like getting this win on the road is very crucial and very pivotal for our season down the road,” Surtain said after Sunday’s game yielded Denver’s first victory of the 2024 season. “We got a good opponent in the Jets next week, and we just got to keep on building on it.”
The Broncos will practice at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, this week before playing the Jets at noon CDT Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
