QB Winston seeking more consistency
Can he do it again?
That’s what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bucs are wondering after watching quarterback Jameis Winston play a remarkably clean game last Sunday in a 27-9 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Returning from a three-game benching, Winston made good on his vow not to turn the football over and went 29 of 38 for 312 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions.
He may not win enough of the final five games to assure the Bucs (4-7) a postseason spot. But what if Winston rises to the challenge Sunday of beating a very good Carolina defense, or the week after against the Saints, or goes into Baltimore and upsets the Ravens?
Why can’t he just choose to play this way all the time?
“No player is going out there choosing not to play well,” head coach Dirk Koetter said Monday. “No one chooses that. Jameis made good decisions with the football (Sunday). Played a clean game. We had a good result. We win the turnover margin. We get two takeaways. We don’t turn it over.”
Of course, the Bucs have seen this before.
Winston went on a pretty good run during the Bucs’ five-game winning streak in 2016 during which he threw six touchdown passes and only three interceptions to breathe new life into what became a 9-7 season. At the time, he was throwing to Mike Evans, Adam Humphries and Cameron Brate but also was getting contributions from players like Freddie Martino and Cecil Shorts.
“I thought he made really good decisions,” Koetter said of Winston. “He made decisive decisions. He didn’t hold it too long and he didn’t wait for plays to develop that might happen. As time went on, he took the sure thing when it was there and then Jameis also did an excellent job on scramble plays, making decisions outside the pocket whether to throw or run.”
The Panthers will represent a step up in class for Winston. After all, the 49ers were playing their No. 3 quarterback and their best defensive player had been released after getting arrested in Tampa for domestic violence the night before the game.
But Carolina is reeling. They have lost three in a row and are only 1-5 on the road this season.
Quarterback Cam Newton is playing well. So is running back Christian McCaffrey, who had 237 total yards from scrimmage in a loss to Seattle.
The Panthers are having some problems with kicker Graham Gano, who has missed some big kicks in the past two weeks. Head coach Ron Rivera went for a two-point conversion and lost a game against the Lions. Last week, Gano missed an easy field goal before the Seahawks mounted the game-winning drive.
“It’s tough because the guy has been so good for us,” Rivera said of Gano. “The one thing I would say though is whenever he’s had setbacks, whenever he’s had a challenge, he’s come back and played very well for us. So I’m expecting for him to shake it off and get going forward. I really do believe in who he can be for us and who he’s been for us. You know, he had a streak of like 45 straight kicks in a row or something like that. Again, he’ll shake it off, he’ll go forward. It’s an unfortunate part of this game. It’s part of this game and nature of the game, too, because you’ve got to make plays when you get a chance. And the thing that I like is he’s responded, he had a good day of practice today, so I feel good about him.”
The Panthers still are very much alive in the wild-card race, but the Bucs need a miracle to run the table. Still, there is plenty to compete for.
“There’s always a lot to play for,” Winston said. “We’ve always got to chase the dream, whether it’s making it into the playoffs, whether it’s one win at a time, we can never take anything for granted.”
SERIES HISTORY: 37th regular-season meeting. Panthers lead series, 23-13, including a 42-28 win at Carolina on Nov. 2.