Opinion editorial
Every time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers remind you of the potential greatness they exhibit on the field, they crash down faster than every single disaster movie in existence and Sunday’s debacle in London is no exception. Jameis Winston is a large part of the losing culture.
In year five of Jameis Winston, what have we learned about him today and not from day one? He possesses such raw talent and coming out of the draft, one of the finest products from Florida State, but possibly prone to turnovers. Anything change for Winston leading up to the 37-26 disaster against the Carolina Panthers?
Winston Unchallenged
How much top 10 talent does the “genius” Jason Licht draft and signs around him before Winston becomes the quarterback the Bucs need him to be? How much more time does head coach Bruce Arians, OC Byron Leftwich, and QB coach Clyde Christensen need to “undo” what Winston has “learned?” Winston has a 38 percent winning percentage with his 23-37 record as starting franchise QB for the team. Only once did the team ever have a real challenger to his “role” in Ryan Fitzpatrick. Remember him? He moved on an even bigger dumpster fire of the Miami Dolphins.
Maybe Arians and company could have “fixed” Fitzpatrick instead.
Clearly Arians and company have seen enough of Ryan Griffin to remain stubborn enough to stay with Winston. Blaine Gabbert? His time is over here before it even began on the injured reserve. Who is the team supposed to rally around?
When Is Enough, Enough?
Does Winston get angry enough to do better? Time and again when Winston falls behind, he plays desperate and falls back into his old patterns. Six turnovers in London, but his ardent defenders will point out the 100 TDs he thrown in his first five years. It’s a feat only the elite like Dan Marino accomplished. As down as the Bucs frequently are with only one 9-7 season to show for his time here, is it really as impressive as they make it out to be?
Winston can throw for an NFL record 7,000 yards and 34 TDs in a season. Doesn’t mean that much when he turns the ball over an average of 1.79 or 2 turnovers a game? This doesn’t factor for the fumbles his receivers and running backs add to the equation. When Winston is not performing to win those games by reducing the turnovers, what is he doing to inspire others to up their game?
Apologists like to point out it’s everyone around Winston at fault from players, coaching, and not necessarily him. When is it him? Personnel has changed, coaching has changed. Winston remains the same. The greats like Brady, Brees, and Rodgers have players and coaches changed out all the time, yet their results remain similar almost every year. They don’t get the best running backs, receivers, and blockers, but they make do with what they got. These QBs give them a fighting chance to win every week.
Winston isn’t one of those greats. He was an elite college player. Never did he sniff “elite” at the NFL level. He struggles to be even normal. His spurts of mistake-free ball in time’s past don’t make up for his underachieving body of work. The Bucs never needed Winston to be elite, but he never believed that. The team has seen what they needed to see from him. The team, fans, and the community need to stop coddling him.
It’s time to move on from Winston, but Arians’ ego won’t let it happen. There are 10 games left to secure another top 10 pick that will be wasted because the Glazers can’t run a franchise to save their lives. Are you sick of losing yet?
