Talks QB development.

When the Broncos played the Bucs tin October, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, may have had one of his worst games as a pro.

Jameis was picked twice by granny-hassling, cabbie-punching, gun-totin’ Aqib Talib, didn’t throw for a touchdown and only completed  17 of 35 attempts.

It was a brutal game for Jameis, but he got better for it. That’s the words from Broncos overlord John Elway.

When the Hall of Fame quarterback took to a podium at the massive (former Hoosier Dome) Indiana Convention Center in now wintry Indianapolis, the beehive of the NFL combine, Joe didn’t ask Elway specifically about Jameis but asked if and how a young quarterback can learn from awful games.

“Oh, I had awful games, believe me,” the two-time Super Bowl winner said. “I think you’re going to have to, as a young quarterback, get used to having bad games because to me you have to be able to bounce back from bad games. That’s part of the league. Part of that is the mental toughness that you learn from [bad games].

“The maturation process of a young quarterback is to be able to bounce back from those poor games. They’re going to happen, but it’s how you handle that. To me, the ones that they can handle a tough loss or a tough game and come back and play well the next week, they are the ones that stay around for a long time.”

And James did bounce back. The next week at Carolina on Monday Night Football, Jameis didn’t have a great game but he got the job done. He threw for a touchdown, avoided turnovers and completed 18 of 30 passes for 219 yards.

Of course, Jameis, despite having schlock for receivers outside of Mike Evans, continued to improve as the season progressed. He  set an NFL record for being the first quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons.

By Elway’s standard, it seems Jameis might just be around for a few years.