Is there bad blood between Jameis Winston and Mike Evans? Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Did Mike Evans take a shot at Jameis Winston?

Originally posted on Sportsnaut | By Vincent Frank | Last updated 9/27/17

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans is pushing back against the idea that he was dominated by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes in his team’s blowout loss to the Vikings this past week.

According to Pro Football Focus, Rhodes allowed just four catches for 36 yard on nine targets in Minnesota’s surprising 34-17 win.

It’s something the NFL’s official Twitter page noticed as well. Rhodes performing at a high level against a strong No. 1 receiver in Evans.

But don’t think for a second that Evans himself is going to take this “criticism” sitting down. On Wednesday morning, he responded to a Tweet from earlier in the week.

Rhodes were open for me. Film don't lie https://t.co/2trIeOQrPN

— Mike Evans (@MikeEvans13_) September 27, 2017

It seems as if Evans is indicating that he was open throughout the game. Instead, the issue with his lagging statistics was Jameis Winston’s inability to get him the ball. If the “Rhodes were open” to Evans, how come he only came away with 67 receiving yards on 12 targets?

Well, Winston threw three interceptions in the loss and only saw a quarter of his completions go in Evans’ direction. It’s not exactly that hard to read between the lines here.

Sure, Evans was tossing a bit of shade in Rhodes’ direction after the Vikings’ corner put up another stellar performance to start the season. But his comments could easily be interpreted as a knock on a quarterback in Winston who continues to struggle with consistency throughout his young career.

This article first appeared on Sportsnaut and was syndicated with permission.

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