Deep Ball Blues
August 23rd, 2019
Yes, the Buccaneers’ pass protection tonight collectively looked like a drunk trying to walk a straight line.
But there were times America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, had time for deep shots and he took them.
And they went about as well as they did with DeSean Jackson. Jameis was off on his deep shots to Breshad Perriman, who is supposed to be the premier deep threat on this team.
On the first attempt, Perriman didn’t adjust well to the ball or didn’t attack it, or Jameis underthrew it. The next two were rough throws. Those watching on TV saw Byron Leftwich looking pissed at Jameis after the final deep throw with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. And Ronde Barber on the broadcast called it Jameis’ first bad decision of the game because he needed to extend the drive and O.J. Howard was open underneath. Barber also said Jameis needs significant work on his deep ball.
Yeah, it’s preseason. But the Bucs — and Jameis — dropped a freaking goose egg on the board at home in their “dress rehearsal” preseason game. Certainly, it’s not Jameis’ fault alone. But tonight’s offensive failure is a great (scary?) example of how the quarterback likely will take the fall in his contract year if this crap happens during the regular season.
It appears Bucco Bruce Arians has a full plate of work ahead to get his Bucs offense off to a fast start. And based on tonight’s first half, that will include a healthy share of quarterback whispering — even if that’s just helping Jameis keep calm in the face of relentless pressure.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:44 pm
Great article. Pay attention Joe is dropping facts
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:44 pm
It’s official
JAMEIS SUCKS!!!!!
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:44 pm
JW is great.
No worries…..
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:45 pm
Jameis has officially proved tonight he’s the same old bonehead he’s always been the last five years who can’t throw a deep ball to save his life.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:47 pm
Not a surprise, he never has been a deep ball thrower, everyone knew that.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:48 pm
He’s never gonna get it.
But that’s ok. The oline won’t give him enough time to even try it any more anyways.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:48 pm
Coaches and coaching can’t even fix this kid
………Career 2nd stringer………….
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:48 pm
Always been a JW supporter but the dude is horrid with the deep ball. Makes it somewhat understandable that a homerun receiver like DJax couldn’t wait to get as far away from Jameis as possible.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:48 pm
Yep the QBs fault he was hit every play and we were in 3rd and long Everytime. Some things never change and it is people being football dumb and J O E feeding them.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:49 pm
Time to see how he reacts when Arians and Leftwich start coaching him hard. He’s always claimed to want that kind of coaching. I get the feeling he’s about to get it.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:49 pm
somehow I got the impression Joe was eating some crow. Who needs an offensive line, right Joe? Let’s blame it all on the running backs
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:50 pm
Jameis looked bad as did the O-line. 3 wins this season.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:50 pm
We also know that Jameis really, really misses GMC…..Tragic in every sense of the word
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:51 pm
Don’t worry plenty of other teams garbage will be available soon… no one loves building a roster with other theams trash like bucs…. glazers have trained bucfan well to accept cast offs and trash
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:53 pm
When the opportunity is there u convert. That’s what a professional #1 QB is getting paid millions to do. I like jameis but the clock is ticking
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:54 pm
Man Griffin sucks he should have thrown that away right Pittsmoron?
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:55 pm
The o-line is god awful, but Jameis is god awful with the deep balls too. They can be mutually exclusive problems.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:55 pm
So jameis was flawless out there huh? He gets no blame?
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:59 pm
@Ndog
Really? REALLY?
You can’t finally admit that Jameis has several weaknesses that are keeping him from being a great NFL QB?
Those of us that have been consistent in our criticism of Winston have been for a very good reason… he deserves the criticism. It’s just that simple.
Many of you need to open your eyes and realize that Winston is just not that great of an NFL QB overall. He has some great stretches of good play, but that 20% of bad passes, inaccuracy, and bad decision making is what is holding this team back from getting back to a playoff contender.
Arians is the QB Whisperer…
They’ve got new software…
A new Offensive Coordinator because Koetter was holding him back…
NEW this… NEW that this season…
ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC.
Yet…
Jameis isn’t SHARP. He doesn’t appear to be ANY different than he has been.
People need to wake up and realize… the odds are much higher that Jameis will always remain an average NFL QB than the odds he’ll suddenly break-through into the Top Tier of NFL QBs.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:01 pm
it was the d’s fault, the run games fault and the kickers fault again
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:01 pm
Dirk Koetter had both Winston and Fitzpatrick throwing for 300+ yds.
The offense was fine under his leadership.
The defense, however was horrible.
Today, Byron Leftwitch is failing put Winston in a position to be successful. Winston looked much better in Dirk’s offense. Leftwitch, he looks horrible, as do the back ups.
This is going to be quite ironic that Byron Leftwitch will be the coach who finished Winton’s Buccaneer career.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:06 pm
No deep ball acumen. It’s what I wanted to see. Much like Koetter’s offense, open deep- Jameis can’t hit them. It is frustrating to watch and it limits our offense if the defense knows we can’t go deep. It’s like his range is that of a bad Pennigton’s, but he has the arm strength. It’s just scatter arm.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:07 pm
Joe u should change the name of the article to deep blue balls…When u get excited for the bucs, they let u down.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:07 pm
Why do yall celebrate when Jamies struggles ??? Don’t worry yall will soon get what you want. And when the next quarterback comes in next year we will go straight to the super bowl his first year cause Jamies is the reason why we lose!!!!! Lol lol lol
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:11 pm
Hard to not expect your QB to make a play on one of those throws. Ndog you can try all you like but when the OC is upset at his QB it should be very clear that he didn’t do a good enough job.
How about quit blindly defending him and let his play do the talking? Let’s not worry about this game. He can start against the 49ers.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:11 pm
This was the most horrific blocking display I’ve ever seen at any level. But Joe comes up with this article to distract the nightmare of a oline.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:16 pm
agree Lamarcus ..it’s called wag the tail
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:17 pm
I’m sorry wag the dog
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:18 pm
Lamarcus good point. If a article isn’t written about the OL it’s a basic disservice to Buc fans. Bit I doubt that happens.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:19 pm
@Joe … “tonight’s offensive failure is a great (scary?) example of how the quarterback likely will take the fall in his contract year if this crap happens during the regular season.” If you were the Bucs owner Joe, would you pay Winston $30-$35 mil to QB your team based on performances like tonight?
We keep hearing the same tired excuses. Give Jameis the top receiving group in the league, give him a solid OLine to protect him, a solid running game and a good defense and he can win for us. Uhhh, so could a good rookie QB, and the 2020 draft will have several if Jameis shetz the bed this season. And the rookie will do it a LOT cheaper.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:20 pm
Yeah I was a big Jameis supporter. But after tonight enough is enough. Guys are wide open in nfl standards and he isn’t even close. When a 40 year old fan starts thinking he could have made a better throw it might be time to move on. It is t just talk anymore 5 years in it is official Jameis can not throw a good deep ball. So he will never be a good nfl qb. Just don’t understand it he throws a great intermediate in the middle of the field. But his deep ball is like he just closes his eyes and throws it as far as he can. How does a starting nfl qb throw a deep ball 5 yards out of bounds while his receiver has a 3 yard cushion of beating his man. I am over it and now I am not looking forward to this season. Becasue I will just after every game be thinking if jameis hit that one deep pass every game. A qb that cant hit a deep pass is like a gaurd who can’t hit a three. They will just give you the three and play off and take away your drive. Jameis is hindering us if he can’t throw an accurate deep ball. So I wouldn’t be mad if we start Griffin. At least he can hit a deep ball. He might actually give us the best chance to win
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:20 pm
Depth Ball Blues…Blue Balls? No doubt frustration…
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:23 pm
Why not compare him to something tangible versus your own opinions and thought of what a QB should do?
Look at Baker Mayfield, he has all day to throw and has a 38% completion percentage at the half with a pick.
I can only imagine what you clowns would be saying if JW went 10/26 for 78 yards and 1 INT.
You be calling for Gabrett or Smith to start, don’t lie.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:23 pm
Lol funny reading before fans saying playoffs…lmao
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:29 pm
Jameis sucks anyone who doesn’t think so is an FSU fan. He can’t throw deep. Any other nfl qb would have had two touchdowns if they were in the game besides Jameis. No one can dispute that. If you really think you can tell me how those two deep balls shouldn’t have been touchdowns. Please tell us. One landed 5 yards out of bounds. That’s 15 feet. I just do t want to be the bengals and 5 years from now saying how much talent Jameis has and if he puts it all together. Like they are with dalton. I say trade him let us just be really bad this year and get first pick. Instead of being teased and being 4-6 and if we win 5 in a row we have a shot. Just put us out of are misery now.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:29 pm
JeffBuc……You are drawing the line over a preseason game? Well half of a game actually.
Why not just take a little rest to clear your head and see how you feeling in the morning.
Maybe by then you’ll be willing to let the actual season play out
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:32 pm
PLAYOFFS!!!!–HELL NO!!!
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:33 pm
Mayfield is in year 2 not year 5. Not comparable…try again
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:36 pm
Guys.
They had a bad half. A terrible half.
It happens.
First team O was humming in the first drive of the first game, mediocre but not horrid in their second. The Browns front 7 are studs.
Tons of penalties tonight which they can fix. Leftwich needs to adjust playcalling. Jameis can hit Evans deep and he’ll get there with Perriman. His deep attempts tonight were in-between getting harassed to no end by the pass rush on every other play.
No INTs, took the sacks and threw the ball away when there was nothing else to do. The hand he was dealt sucked and he did about as good as you can do.
It hinges on the O-line.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:36 pm
All this is a little over-blown let’s just wait until the regular season starts. Hopefully the bucs will find a way as a team. No excuses
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:40 pm
@tampabay yes it is comparable. Even more so that Mayfield had all day to throw back there. We’ve all heard the same crap since season 2 with Jameis, so you’ll hear it the same whe applied to other qbs.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:41 pm
Man I root for Jamies cause he’s on the team. Rather yall like it or not he’s the quarterback this year. After this year is over then I will start talking about the draft. But as for now I’m going to root for my bucs and all the players on the team . When the season starts I’m not going to be on this site or less it’s something positive. Yall can keep beating a dead horse about Jamies. You don’t know what’s going to happen this year. I can recall when Jimmy G played bad yall said it’s just 1 preseason game but now it’s Jamies now he is going to be bad this year. Lol lol lol
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:43 pm
The comments on here are hilariously stupid. JoeBucsfan is like the Finebaum of bucs fandom…can’t wait until joe makes a post about griffin….I’ll get my popcorn…
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:44 pm
@db55…baker has played in 10 nfl games… jameis, year 5 at 20 million
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:50 pm
To be fair the first one was right on target.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:55 pm
Like I said in an earlier thread yesterday, I’d rather have JW workout all his kinks now in the preseason when it doesn’t count than in the start of the regular season. Let’s hope that got it all out of his system.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:56 pm
Griffin is to Winston what Brady was to Bledsoe…
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:02 pm
third best qb in the league.on 3rd downs
franchise record setting qb
2nd most accurate outside of the pocket
SACKED 5 TIMES.IN THE FIRST HALF!!!!!!!!!
STFU YOU IDOTS FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY!!!!!!Just because the guy is black, took.some free.crab legs and.tried to get some nookie the guy would still be hated if he won a superbowl. Your bias hatred is pathetic. Our defense looked good noe give the kid a chance to play this season and see what he does and get a life
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:02 pm
But y’all been talking the same chit since season 1.
Come on be fair, from his very first pass ya’ll been SAYING THE SAME FN CHIT!!!!GIMME A BREAK! His very first pass!
And don’t make me go back in the archives and find the articles bc I will. Y’all are so full of it man such deep denial. You …nvrmind
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:07 pm
Winston looked to do well despite terrible protection on the first two drives. But as the half wore on and he had to go through progressions, make decisions, and be somewhat accurate, boy did he suck. My concern I wrote about yesterday was how would he be without big catch radius ME, who was out and reliable get open and come back for the ball Hump…who is gone for good. I heard many frustrations of Same Ole Winston. The offense is collectively not ready to start the season. While there is plenty of blame to go around starting with the O line, if Winston plays like this going forward, he IS the same ole Winston and will not be back, nor should he be. But we do know he is consistent, and can surely improve when the game counts. Hall of Fame track my azz.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:08 pm
So many non athletes commenting on what athletes can or cannot do!
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:08 pm
Jameis needs to get his deep ball in the field of play. All he had to do is lead
his receiver away from the sideline.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:09 pm
^^^correction. We know he is INconsistent…so he can certainly do just fine going forward. But I doubt it.
I just hope he pays for that window he broke at St Joe’s Hospital on that last drive he had.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:11 pm
Tom Brady would have been sacked 6 times and out for the season after tonight’s O-Line play.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:13 pm
Maybe Arians and the rest of the coaches should start actually whispering in his ear instead of slobbering all over it. Oh, right. Winston just does what he wants to anyway.
The D is ready to go though.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:13 pm
You guys want a perfect QB, well guess what? Manning is retired and Brady is a Patriot. Wentz and Watson are locked up, no better young QBs in the league.
Notice how all the mm fans have had to stfu? Meh.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Baker and Mahomes are fugazi. Baker Mayfield and OJB might go to blows on the sideline mid-season. As for Holmes i guarantee that the patriots, Broncos and Ravens can’t wait for Holmes to throw the left handed bs again. Lol.
Funny thing happens when teams have tape on you. Like a 38% completion percentage. But wtfdik
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:22 pm
Can’t wait until he’s gone…
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:22 pm
Lol ammunition haters were waiting for. This result is the anti Bucs website. Even I was annoyed with Winston deep ball because it looked like he throws it up and just prays the receiver makes it look good. No touch whatsoever and it’ll be hard to soften up the defense if they don’t fear the deep shot
But damn people I’ve never seen fake fans who have been talking about how garbage the team was all offseason take a preseason game so seriously, it’s almost like you just said negative stuff for the hell of it but didnt really mean it seeing how people are crying on this site lol so pathetic. You idiots need to refill your xanax.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:28 pm
In the first preseason game Jaymiss was five of six and scored a touchdown. Y’all went yeah, we are going to win the Superbowl. The problem was the miss. It showed that Jaymiss still can’t hit a long ball.
The problem last year wasn’t DJax, It was quarterback that missed him, numerous times. But DJax is gone.
Now he can’t hit Perriman.
Meanwhile Griffin has won two in a row. I thought the Bucs would get their sh**t kicked, but Griffin pulled it out. Now there is talk about him not making the team. Many teams would grab him without any questions.
Is it because Jaymiss can’t live in the same house as someone who might be better than him?
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:31 pm
HUGE Winston supporter here, because I am a HUGE Bucs supporter. If/when he’s gone, I won’t care, but for now….
The first throw was as good as it gets. Perriman needs to catch that one. Was it contested? Yep, but the put that one in the bucket.
The next two were AWFUL. Not because he missed them, but because of how he missed them. Perriman was open and Winston was too scared to put the ball anywhere Perriman could catch it. Looked scared it might get picked off. He looks like he’s bought into the “do anything except throw and INT” If he doesn’t start letting the ball go and being too careful, this will be his last season.
Oh, and what the f was Leftwich doing with all of the slow developing plays? Cmon guys.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:46 pm
Jameis gives the same interviews every year….
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:48 pm
Winston threw the ball to Perriman instead of Howard because he knew the Bucs weren’t going on a 12 play drive against that defense. He had a shot and took it. Just missed it. If that was the Niner defense then Winston will move the chains. All you rocket scientists including the Joes are clueless. Winston is playing chess and WDS simpletons are still playing checkers.
August 23rd, 2019 at 11:56 pm
@db55… Baker has very similar #’s to peyton thru his 1st year. Baker will be a hall of famer
August 24th, 2019 at 12:11 am
Jeff Blake may have been the best deep-ball thrower in NFL history … no one remembers who he was.
Deep balls are a very small part of the game and the vast majority of QBs, even the best of the best, have a terrible comp % on deep balls … it’s a non-issue.
August 24th, 2019 at 12:38 am
Offensive line was terrible BUT Leftwich did very little to help them out. No WR screens (smoke routes aren’t the same), RB flares, WR quick outs (there were a few), and slants to hit the D quickly, use their pass rush against them, as well as force them to cover the width of the field. He also didn’t try to run the ball very much. If this was the 2nd or 3rd string offense I would say that the staff was simply evaluating but because there are starters I assume he either stuck to his script, didn’t gameplan at all, or is very poor at calling a game. I hope it is one of the first two. I thought Jameis did about as well as I guy could do with that much pressure.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:02 am
The first deep.ball was on the $. It’s hard to put blame on Winston as he was being destroyed almost every single snap. You think Brady or Breeze would have done any better? Not a chance
August 24th, 2019 at 5:38 am
Even with 5 sacks JW still had chances to make plays and didn’t
The decision making and knowing his limits hasn’t changed
August 24th, 2019 at 8:31 am
We would have a QB controversy if Gabbert does not get hurt.
August 24th, 2019 at 9:12 am
He recognizes plays late & throws late, especially on deep passes.
The play-calling didn’t help him either, given the o-lines’ “cohesion”.
August 24th, 2019 at 10:40 am
brutal throws, its preseason but when you have opportunities to throw over the top of a defense and your receiver is winning the battle the quarterback has to allow the receiver to make a play on the ball. Those missed throws to Perriman were horrendous, very few starting NFL quarterbacks miss those chances, you only get 2 or 3 a game. You can’t go 0-3 every game and be a reliable franchise quarterback. Throw the damn ball to the correct spot.
August 24th, 2019 at 11:11 am
TakeAChillPill had the best take on this offensive half… we will rarely see a defensive front 7 as effective as the Browns and yet JW didn’t throw an INT. That is huge progress and validation of what BA and others on this site have been saying: put a D (and maybe a running game some day) on the field that doesn’t make JW feel like he has to win a game all by himself from 2 scores down and he’ll make less bonehead mistakes. I almost vomited at the OL play but the silver lining is JW never just heaved it downfield (once late he did heave it, but clearly out of bounds).
So, given the plays called and the strong Browns D I’m almost ok with last night. “Almost” because I’m beginning to think Leftwich has not realized JW is simply not a reliable deep ball thrower. He needs to make a living throwing 15 yards or less outside the hashes and 25 yards or less down the middle. If you must, run a few deep routes to keep the DBs honest but someone needs to break into One Buc Place and burn the tapes of Fitz throwing those 70+ yard TDs to DeSean and OJ. Just forget about those plays as the success rate is low to begin with and practically zero for JW. This team can win some games, maybe as many as 9, if they simply play to their strengths. And BTW, nice game on D.
August 24th, 2019 at 11:52 am
4-12……….it’s almost unavoidable. And Winston WILL be gone. Amen.