Toward the end of the season, the Bucs’ receivers corps was so shattered by injuries, Tampa Bay was pulling dudes off the street to catch passes.

But unlike a lot of teams, the Bucs were also loaded with tight ends. You will be hard-pressed to find any team with two tight ends as talented as O.J. Howard and Cam Brate.

But when the Bucs decided to lean on those tight ends, the tight ends dropped the ball, literally.

So prior to the final game, Joe asked Brate what happened. In short, Brate explained he believes in the phrase, “If it is not broke, don’t fix it.” And Brate said there was nothing wrong with the Bucs’ offense repeatedly targeting two of the best receivers in the game, Pro Bowlers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

So Brate believed it was rust, in part, was why the Bucs tight ends didn’t answer the bell when called upon after Evans and Godwin went down with season-ending injuries.

“If you look at the season as a whole, the way Mike and Chris have played, they get the lion’s share of the targets,” Brate said. “And that is the way it should be. Those two guys are incredible receivers. Both Pro Bowlers. The quarterback’s progressions this year, they started with Mike and Chris — as it should. “I think that definitely plays into it.”

In effect, Brate told Joe that all of a sudden when the tight ends needed to be a key cog in the offense, it wasn’t as simple as flipping on a switch. Still, Brate emphasized, there was no reason for the Bucs to target tight ends because the passing game keying on wide receivers was humming.

“Yeah, it has been frustrating at times,” Brate said. “It’s not like we haven’t been moving the ball on offense. If we could eliminate the turnovers we would probably be the best offense in the league. It’s hard to question the coaches [as a result].”

This all makes sense but there were plays that the tight ends should have made regardless of who is targeted throughout the season.

For example, Breshad Perriman wasn’t a key target until the injuries piled up, and then he raised his game to a point he likely will be a coveted target on the open market when the free agency dinner bell rings in March.

Bucs tight ends had critical drops on easy passes in December. That shouldn’t be a result of who was targeted in the passing game against the Giants in September.

In a big picture theory, Joe fully understands what Brate is saying and it all makes sense. Still, key drops on short passes in key situations should be made regardless of the focus of an offense. Brate was hardly alone in this.

Joe thinks the world of Brate and believes he (and Howard) were terribly underutilized this past season. And with Brate’s salary, Joe has a dark feeling this interview may be Joe’s last with Brate as a Bucs tight end.

Unless the Harvard product reworks his contract.

But yeah, Joe gets what Brate is saying. Sometimes, flipping the switch isn’t that easy.