Stop Scapegoating Jameis
October 3rd, 2016
BY IRA KAUFMAN
When Jameis Winston walked off the field Sunday evening, bruised all over and caked in mud, he was standing straight up, head tall.
That’s a good start.
Tampa Bay’s 1-3 getaway has raised questions ranging from the culture of the locker room to the expertise of the executive suite, and that’s fair game.
Winston is on pace to throw 32 interceptions and first-year head coach Dirk Koetter admits he is “concerned” about his second-year quarterback.
I’m not.
Koetter’s biggest concern as an offensive playcaller should be an obvious lack of balance exacerbated by Doug Martin’s absence. The Bucs are averaging only 3.4 yards per carry and Winston has thrown more passes than any quarterback in the league.
Coincidence? Hardly.
Winston has made his share of poor decisions — but so has the head coach.
If you don’t establish a credible ground game against the Broncos, then you’re doomed to failure because Denver is built to capitalize on teams that are one-dimensional.
Just ask the Panthers, who saw Cam Newton under siege in the Super Bowl once Jonathan Stewart departed with an injury.
Context Required
Let’s remember Winston overcame a shaky opening month of his rookie season, when he was picked off seven times in the first four games and only six times in the final 12.
After Sunday’s setback, Koetter lamented the three first-half turnovers that helped stake Denver to a 17-7 advantage. Fair enough.
The Broncos have rolled up 26 consecutive victories when winning the turnover battle and Aqib Talib set the tone from the start by intercepting Winston’s first pass.
That errant throw must be placed in context, however.
It was preceded by two Charles Sims runs up the middle that gained a total of four yards, setting up 3rd-and-long. Anytime Denver’s defense creates a 3rd-and-long, you’ll need a beach towel to wipe the drool off Talib’s facemask.
That doesn’t excuse Winston’s poor judgment, but those picks don’t happen in a vacuum.
Trust Issues
Speaking of poor judgment, Koetter sent the wrong message to his guys when he ordered a punt from midfield midway through the fourth quarter, with the Bucs down by 20 points.
“I don’t know why anyone expected we could make it on fourth-and-7,” he said, referring to the 4th-and-6 scenario. “I sure didn’t expect us to.”
You know who did? Winston, Mike Evans, Adam Humphries and an offensive line that finally gave out at the end, moments after Koetter had surrendered.
Winston knows more than anyone that protecting the ball is Job 1. He knows it because he sees the look in the eyes of teammates frustrated with Tampa Bay’s lack of ball security.
He saw that look after a Week 4 home matchup against Carolina in 2015, when Winston threw four interceptions and lost a fumble in a 37-23 setback.
That game was a turning point for Winston, who was blessed with a vibrant running game last season. Here come the Panthers again next Monday night before a national TV audience, with both teams already two games behind Atlanta in the NFC South.
All eyes will be on No. 3, and surely Winston needs to play better and smarter. But let’s not make a 22-year-old quarterback the scapegoat for an offense that is seriously out of whack and a defense on pace to allow a franchise-record 512 points.
I’m confident Winston will snap out of this early funk, but the running game could very well be a season-long issue, even when Martin returns from a hamstring injury.
Koetter’s relationship with Winston is crucial to his Bucs future. Everyone knows that trust factor is the key reason Koetter was chosen to succeed Lovie Smith.
The puzzling 4th-and-6 punt suggests that trust is being tested at the moment. In Winston’s seven NFL wins, he has thrown 13 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
In his 13 losses, that ratio is 17-19.
“I’ve just got to bounce back,” Winston says, and I believe he will.
Now about that crummy running attack …
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:35 pm
Question:
Would this team be better right now had we drafted Laremy Tunsil and Sterling Shepard rather than Vernon Hargreaves and Noah Spence? I don’t mean speculating that we’ll be better down the line with what we have. I mean…would this team be better RIGHT NOW had we drafted the best player available rather than drafted for need?
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:43 pm
@bannana… Of course. Two immediate starters on O make the O better but you have to find someone to get to the qb. At least we have a kicker, who as shown, he’s just a kicker like all the rest of them
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:45 pm
I wonder if someone could dissect/ask about the play calling between Year 1 and 2 in America’s (Second Most Hated) Quarterback Jameis Winston career. Is he now being given more leeway to make audibles at the line in Year 2?
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:04 pm
Why all the criticism of Koetter on a meaningless 4th down play. Place the blame on the GM and prior coaches that left the HC with having to to make chicken salad out of chicken ?$&/. Defense will need an almost total re-do after this year so let the rookies start playing.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:05 pm
Not sure why Rogers hasn’t been used more, but Koetter is very familiar with
him so we will see what happens next week.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Too much over analyzing. Just another football sunday, I mean take a look at teams who lost badly that should of won. Last r games we played vs good defense. Let,s go, onto the next game and just enjoy the game of football. Go Bucs!
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Ira, how did Jameis have 15 INT’s for the year and you say he had 7 in the first four games and 6 in the final 12? Nice try. I just hope he gets better or we are NOT going to win more than 5 or 6 games this year.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:27 pm
#3 made horrible decisions with those first two picks. It is what it is. Not ready to throw in the towel by any means, but let’s be honest…#3 is still a work in progress.
Hopefully he’ll be ready to go after the bye.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Ira
I got to admit I was expecting you to be just like these other lame-brain “journalists” from TB but I must say you actually have a clue. Must be why the joes snatched you up. Birds of a feather a what-not.
TB as a whole is so clueless it’s not even funny. Jaboo and Evans are the best thing that’s happened to TB since Brooks and Sapp.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:32 pm
He is NOT accurate! What does the lack of running game have to do with him missing wide open receivers?
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:01 pm
Dirk needs to figure out that JW needs to throw shorter passes to begin the games to get into a rhythm before he tries to go deep. Jameis has to stop throwing into double coverage and find the 1 on 1 matchup. He needs to hit the players when they are wide open and be more accurate in general. Stop the turnovers and learn how to protect the football better. Just be better!
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:09 pm
We will probably go into the bye at 1-4. Cam Newton and the boyz are pissed at losing. Not good for us. I disagree with you Ira on Jameis. He..sat the tempo of the game Sunday. 2 direct turnovers by him and 2 scores by Denver thereafter put us in the hole. Jameis has got to play better..Much better. And our so called improved Defense? Man, Lovie’s actually looked better..thus far.
IRA, I’ve been a Bucs fan since 76. But I do not feel sorry for Tampa. You guys rode Lovie Smith outta Tampa on a rail. The Tampa media and fans screamed for Lovie’s head. The fickle Glazers responded and fired him. National sportswriters said Tampa was nuts for doing so. Give the guy more time they said. Not us said Tampa. We are on the..2 and done timetable. The fans screamed, we want Koetter. HE was hired. Koetter is an O coordinator. and that’s all. HE brought in a fired coach from ATL to shape up his Defense. Theres a reason Smith was fired by Arthur Blanks. HE no longer..has it. Soo you get what you deserve. And its being served real cold right now. Deal with it and learn Tampa Bay.
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Mike
What’s lovies record in college?
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:53 pm
Not meaningless.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:01 pm
In a 27-7 game where this offense had shown nothing for 3 and a half quarters. Should he have gone for it? Maybe, but that play wasn’t going to instantly kick start this offense to score three tds. Blame Koetter, but don’t blame JW. You’ll stick up for this guy forever as an FSU guy. If he played at Purdue, you would run him out on a rail.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:06 pm
DB55..your point is Moot. Lovie Smith finished his NFl career with a winning record. Look it up for yourself..dimwit. The point I’m making is…National sports experts side with me in saying the Bucs fired lovie to quickly as they have al of their coaches. Thus..the problem of us..being losers and one of the laughing stocks..of the NFl. But then again, you tampa bay people know what right for the Bucs. We have winners like Koetter and Smith huh?
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:09 pm
80-87 is nothing to brag about. Just barely a .500 coach. Are you ironing his yellow jacket yet? Stick to the national experts they’re about as dumb as you. How mariota doing btw? Idiots the whole lot of em.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:10 pm
*89-87
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:15 pm
Bucnut….now it’s just borderline obsession.
You need help.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:21 pm
Mike Johnson…Lovie Smith sucked and the only reason why you like him is because the color of skin. Most of us know that already. That’s why most of us don’t bother with you anymore. Yes I’m always the one that has to say it though, but oh well it has to be said from time to time.
BTW your brotha is 1-3 as well right now. I hope your care and concern for him never wanes. Perhaps if he were to dip himself in a bucket of bleach then he would lose your support.
The truth!
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:22 pm
^^^^^^BURN^^^^^^haha
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:24 pm
“I wanted to be drafted by the tampa bay Bucs and play in front of poster Kobe Faker”
Sterling Shepard
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Well said Ira, glad to see there’s some non-panic mongers still around. This Broncos defense is elite, this is what they do to young QBs, this is what those elite Bucs defenses did to young QBs. When you have no running game and your QB is getting hit on every play and your WRs can’t get open, you’re going to have a bad game.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:41 pm
Man some of y’all just need to realize that ALL quarterbacks in the NFL have bad games. Stop acting like we didn’t just play the best defense in the NFL with only 1 real receiver. There’s a reason every quarterback sucks against the Broncos defense.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:50 pm
Some fun facts…
Cam, 194 yards, 2 TDs (1 rushing, 1 passing), 1 INT
Andrew Luck, 197 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 lost fumble
Andy Dalton, 206 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Jameis Winston, 179 yards, 1 TD (rushing), 2 INTs
Those are the stats versus the Broncos this year, not to mention last year.
The Broncos are that good, so settle down, the sky isn’t falling.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:10 pm
Ok, I’ll buy that the Cardinals, Rams, and Broncos are all elite defenses that have made many QBs look bad. Maybe the sky isn’t falling.
We’ll see on Monday night when we face Carolina. The Falcons roasted them last week and Cam Newton’s head is still ringing from showboating into the end zone and getting creamed.
The difference between 1-4 and 2-3 going into the BYE week is only one game, but the psychological difference is tremendous.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Excuses, excuses, excuses. it’s like a broken record. The same old, same old every year, the Bucs sucks and they always will until they find a QUALITY GM.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Rod, thank you. People are quick to throw the baby out with the water around here.
Chris… Joe did not right this article, and I would bet he like Purdue. Joe likes smash mouth football. Once a player leaves college it’s time to m over on… I would guess you are a gators fan.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:56 pm
DB55..Our Bucs suck period! still a winning record sir. You can play. Trump if you like and deny its a winning record. That’s fine. Evidence strongly suggest we are reaping what we sow. How’s your savior doing (Koetter) ?
October 3rd, 2016 at 10:05 pm
Buc 1987. The color of Lovie’s skin? WOW! You gotta be either a fool, a confederate or a Trump supporter dude. Don’t recall mentioning race anywhere. But You..did! There is help for that racial syndrome you got sir. Find it. I thought only democrats pulled out the race card. You must be one.
October 3rd, 2016 at 10:51 pm
IRA I disagree, JABOO as a leader of the team has to stop putting us in a hole. the first throw could have been picked off by two Broncos which were closer that Hump and the second throw he tried to squeeze in between two broncos and was late. I think Koetter needs to get him in a rhythm shorter screens, crosses, etc. Also JABOO got happy feet. Big test this week. Carolina pass defense sucks so we will see how good our group does. Atlanta barely ran the ball and had a field day. We ill not win this game if we try to run against the Panthers
October 4th, 2016 at 12:05 am
Not only has Minnesota, another team running a variation of the cover 2 blamed here for the horrible personnel failing last year, succeeding because gasp, they have better personnel, something some of us said was the problem here and that you already had a coach who knew how to build a defense to fit it, but of course, the predictable turn on the young QB by some of the fan base, the only bright spot this franchise has because he’s doing too much and isn’t getting any help from his deer-in-the headlights HC, has reared its head just as quickly. If I don’t know Buc fans like clockwork, lol. Called it in the spring to a tee.
October 4th, 2016 at 12:51 am
This thread provided Great Laughs. Thank you guys.
October 4th, 2016 at 3:06 am
Hey Mike Johnson, if 87 was a Trump supporter, he wouldn’t be a part of the Democratic Party. Makes your whole statement null and void
October 4th, 2016 at 6:03 am
Thank God Mariota is not lighting it up with the Titans otherwise this blog would be unbearable. Your QB has been in the league less than 2 years and folks are already losing their collective minds. Someone please tell me how long Matthew Stafford/Andrew Luck/Jay Cutler have been in the league no one is calling for them to run out of the league already. Give the kid a break am not expecting miracles in the second year.
October 4th, 2016 at 7:07 am
So much finger pointing, reaching back into draft opportunities gone by, tit for tat battles, generalized negativity and personal attacks…its sad. Can we all, for once fairly criticize mistakes, glean insight from some of the folks that have good access to the team/players, provide recommendations that will make the team better, and most importantly root for our team? 32 teams and only one will win the SB. Enjoy the journey…keep the faith…be a fan. Go Bucs!
October 4th, 2016 at 11:27 am
NCMike..I got your null and void Hangin and dangling between (fill in the blanks). Come get some!