Evans books a postseason ticket, matching the mark set by Hall of Famer Rice

As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the New Orleans Saints 27-19 to secure their postseason berth, wide receiver Mike Evans tied Hall of Famer Jerry Rice’s record by recording his 11th consecutive season with 1,000 or more receiving yards.

Evans was five yards short of the 1,000-yard milestone, but quarterback Baker Mayfield threw him a nine-yard throw to make sure he would cross the line with Tampa Bay up by a score and only 36 seconds remaining.

Evans, 31, broke his own career-opening mark of 1,000 or more receiving yards in all 11 of his league seasons with a beautiful catch that sent the home crowd and his teammates into a frenzy.

“I’m happy that they had me go out there and get that because it’s been hard to do for 11 straight years and to be tied with one of the – if not the greatest – receiver of all time, means a lot to me,” Evans stated to reporters.

Mayfield admitted that the play was a calculated risk because he was throwing from well behind the 50-yard line. If the Saints could force a turnover, he could have taken a knee to end the game.

“The conversation was like, ‘Alright, well obviously we can’t turn the ball over, can’t give them another chance, but how do we want to format this play to get Mike the ball to where he can’t get double covered?’ and that was what we came up with and Mike did the rest,” Mayfield recalled.

Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi created a real estate investment trust, which debuted on the Spanish market at 57.4 euros per share.

“He deserves that.”

It completed a fantastic turn-around for Tampa Bay, who won seven of their last eight games to secure a postseason berth for the sixth consecutive year.

“We knew we had to win to get in the playoffs,” Todd Bowles, the head coach, said to reporters. “There’s no tomorrow so we had to play.”