The Buccaneers fell to the Panthers in London 37-26. It wasn’t even that close to be honest!
From the very first play you could see something was off. A simple slant route that turned into the tone setter for the game. Quarterback Jameis Winston had shown improvement in his play since the week one debacle against the 49ers. All that improvement fell by the wayside Sunday. Five interceptions, one fumble lost, and honestly it could’ve been more. It should’ve been more.
Total Team Loss
Now before we all pile on Winston lets get a few things out of the way. The offensive line played horrible. Granted it was missing two starters but c’mon man. The run game was abandoned AGAIN. I know I know it’s because of Winston’s turnovers right? Well to an extent yes, but the team was only down by 10 points at the half. Yet the run game was already parked in the garage. The pass catchers for the Buccaneers did Winston no favors. Aside from Chris Godwin the rest of the receivers looked slow, sluggish, even disinterested at times.
Winston Doesn’t Get A Pass
With all of that said, Winston has to do better. Not one, not two, not three but five interceptions. Who does that? How is that even possible? Jameis Winston did that Sunday, in London, on national television, against a divisional rival. Yes Winston was under siege all game, but sometimes you gotta eat the ball and live to fight another day. You can’t keep holding the ball waiting and waiting for someone to come open. More often than not they don’t come open. More often than not Winston keeps holding on to the ball. More often than not it ends up being a bad decision.
Summary
Jameis Winston is in his 5th year in this league. Yes there are extenuating circumstances to factor in but nothing justifies five interceptions. Throw the ball away, take the sack, take off running but quit trying to be Superman. With great risk comes great reward, but sometimes great failure comes instead.
Here is a look at some of Winston’s turnovers. I’d say enjoy, but…yea.
Video credit: NFL Network
Photo credit: buccaneers.com
