It’s All About Wins
June 2nd, 2018
Talking about W’s. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
This might drive the stat geeks to run to the nearest bar and order an O’Doul’s.
The numberscrunchers go nuts when anyone tries to bring up wins as an honest, reasonable statistic. Joe sort of understands why the spreadsheeters have a bug up their tailpipe about wins, but at the end of the day, that’s what it is all about. Scoreboard.
You want stats? Joe offers you Jeff George.
You want wins and rings? Joe offers you Jim Plunkett.
When all is said and done, stats are just filler and background noise for when games aren’t played. When the season is finished, it’s about the guy holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft.
You think any Belicheats fan is celebrating how Tom Brady set a Super Bowl record in February by throwing for 505 yards? Hell, no.
If any of the stat nerds were listening to “The Blitz” yesterday with co-hosts Alex Marvez and former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Dominik asked America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, what his personal goals are for this season.
Jameis stated emphatically the only numbers he gives a damn about are the ones next to a “W.”
“I am just trying to find ways to win,” Jameis said. “Put my team in the best position possible to win. That’s just it. You can’t look at stats. You can’t look at performance. You have to look at the win and the loss column.
“I have to limit things I have done in the past that probably led to losses. I am just doing everything in my power to give this team a chance to win this year.”
You can read between the lines and see that Jameis is meaning fumbles. Jameis had the fewest interceptions per attempts in his NFL career in 2017. His fumbles were garish. Jameis had 50 percent more fumbles last year (15) than in 2017, and that was in three fewer games. That is more than a fumble a game and that is inexcusable.
Of course, you can’t pin all of Jameis’ fumbles on just sloppy ball-handling. Still, Jameis might have to start eating some plays (not “W’s”) to prevent further fumbling.
June 2nd, 2018 at 8:07 am
While everyone is talking about JW3 fumbles, The offense as a whole has way too many “give aways” in General!!!!!! The last 3 years the offense has been at the bottom of the league for hanging onto the ball!!!!!!
2015 tied 22nd
2016 tied 24th
2017 tied 26th
that is a horrible trend that does not help the defense nor the team!!!!! And when you see the teams below the Bucs, you usually see them drafting in front of the Bucs!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!
June 2nd, 2018 at 8:50 am
6-10
No playoffs
June 2nd, 2018 at 8:51 am
Good on joe to actually post this story!!!!! Even though it was thoughtfully posted 1st on Saturday morning so it would quickly get buried by other upcoming stories!!!!!! But what Jw3 says is in stark contrast to another of failed rallying cries of its all about yards!!!!!! Which in fairness was only used because it made the offense look really good and the defense bad!!!!!! Like anything that shows how one of the favorites is being held back is a great topic here!!!!!!!!! But it will now fall like so many of the other failed campaigns like “status whine” , “hold them accountable” , and the fake “no excuses” which I have laid out is mostly so-called fans that over-estimated the talent on the roster or the avenge loser lovie camp!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!
June 2nd, 2018 at 8:53 am
Jameis starts slow. He seems to “over amp” himself before games.
Hopefully, he can work on being calm. I think a little pregame tranquility would go along way
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:08 am
Comparative stats from different era’s with different rules can be misleading…..however Wins and Loses are rarely misleading
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:15 am
Make no mistake, Jameis is a very good quarterback. He has two things he has to improve on. The first thing is you can’t keep doing stupid fumbles. The second thing is long ball accuracy. If he can’t correct long ball accuracy, I hope the coaching staff is smart enough just to keep him in his comfort zone which is very good at 10 to 20 yards. Many great quarterbacks only threw the short and intermediate ball.
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:34 am
Is this the year Winston proves he is a good qb ? Can you learn accuracy and composure or will the 1st qb taken in the draft be average at best?
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:35 am
Capt Tim,
I was thinking the same thing. Jameis has nothing but good intentions in his pregame rally cries but it amps him up so much, it takes him a whole quarter to settle in. He needs to be the zen master.
As for stats vs wins. That’s mostly true! There have been plenty of QBs to win a Super Bowl and not have very good stats. Trent Dilfer comes to mind. I’ll take both stats AND wins please! 🤣
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:40 am
We have one Jameis who only cares about wins and another Jameis who wants to make sure Evens got his thousand yards…
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:41 am
@Joe … “You think any Belicheats fan is celebrating how Tom Brady set a Super Bowl record in February by throwing for 505 yards? Hell, no.”
OK, what’d you do with the REAL Joes? Wins … based on scoring more POINTS than your opponent … actually mean more than how many YARDS you gain (or how few you give up)? No, something’s wrong, JBF has been shanghaied. The REAL Joes would NEVER propose such a thing. EVERYONE knows Bucs have the #9 offense in the NFL based on TOTAL YARDAGE GAINED, not the #18 offense based on TOTAL POINTS SCORED. And EVERYONE knows the Bucs have the #32 defense in the league based on TOTAL YARDAGE ALLOWED, not the #22 defense based on TOTAL POINTS ALLOWED.
(OK Joe, I was finally able to turn off the CAPS key and sarcasm font. I’m OK again. BTW, GRRREAT article. Oh damned, there goes the CAPS key again.)
June 2nd, 2018 at 10:28 am
Dang your old….how many times will you mention Jeff George or write articles comparing Winston to quarterbacks from the 80’s?
Winston has proven he can put up stats so Yes it’s all about wins. If he had a better defense since getting here there would be more wins he would get credit for even if it wasn’t because of him.
You make a name for yourself in the playoffs, that’s when the stats matter for quarterbacks. Case in point blake bortles sucked all year but was given credit for being serviceable in the playoffs. Winston would have won a Superbowl on that team last year
June 2nd, 2018 at 11:03 am
You prefer Joe compare Jameis to JaMarcus Russell? Or Josh Freeman?
You know of another quarterback that was considered one of the best throwers of his time and racked up monster numbers but couldn’t win games?
Waiting.
/tapping fingers on office desk.
June 2nd, 2018 at 11:18 am
Right on!! About Jim Plunkett. He is one of my all-time favorites. He had the “it” factor.
In some ways, Jameis may have had a bit too much of “it” in that he was the the “big fish in a small pond” and got used to trying to carry the almost the whole load.
This season should tell the story.
____________
Go Bucs!!!!
June 2nd, 2018 at 11:44 am
You have guys like Blake Bortles and Marcus Mariota who got wins and found playoff success last season, and then you have Jameis Winston who, despite being undoubtedly more talented than either of the two, had nothing to show for it. Football is a team game, and to find a prime example of this look no further than the team we all know and love. Our offense (Jameis Winston) was above-average to good all season, but our defense was terrible and cost us numerous games. Wins can never be pinned on a single person, and it is important to understand the big picture before issuing blame as to why a team fails to be successful.
June 2nd, 2018 at 11:48 am
The jeff george comparison is stupid. Yes jeff george had the biggest arm but he was not a good qb. He had seasons of throwing 7 tds and 15 ints. George is nowhere near the caliber of winston in any regard. I have said it before, I remember when winston was being drafted. I was all excited that the bucs could actually draft him. A friend of mine who is a big fsu fan told me the worst team that jameis could go to is the bucs because of the idiot fans and the media. He said this area has no clue of what a true quarterback looks like and due to that jameis will never get a fair shot in tampa. Comparing winston to george who was benched multiple times, who was only about himself and not team only validates my friend’s opinion. Who can forget the heated exchange between george and his coach in atl on the sideline when george was once again crapping the bed? I did not understand what my friend was saying then but it makes perfect sense now. I will be glad when winston leaves this tampa team and plays somewhere else and maybe then this idiot fan base can appreciate what they had because to this idiot fan base every other qb is better than jameis. He11 no the fans of pats are not celebrating brady’s 500 yards in the superbowl but because they are not idiots like us, they are not blaming him for the lost neither. Brady’s fumble was not his fault. The kicker missing an extra point and field goal was not brady’s fault. The pats defense crapping the bed was not brady’s fault. Some how tampa fans find a way to blame jameis for all the loses. Smart fans would not. Hat tip to the smart fans.
June 2nd, 2018 at 12:21 pm
Winston should keep the rah rah stuff to a minimum.
After throwing a bunch of interceptions in practice I read from one poster… Winston is in mid season form. I laughed but felt like he could be gone soon if he doesn’t shut his mouth and play smart.
June 2nd, 2018 at 12:53 pm
Yea – the Jeff George comparison is really stupid.
George didn’t even break the 3000 yard mark passing until his 5th season.
Winston has more than twice as many yards and more than twice as many TDs when you compare their 1st 3 years in the league.
George was like a more physically talented version of Jay Cutler with a similar (but worse) demeanor. He had all the measurables and a big arm coming out – but he was not an accurate NFL QB at all and his attitude was piss poor most of the time. Pretty much the exact opposite of Winston in that regard.
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:01 pm
Not there yet Says:
June 2nd, 2018 at 10:28 am
” Case in point blake bortles sucked all year but was given credit for being serviceable in the playoffs. Winston would have won a Superbowl on that team last year.
—————————————————————————————
Many folks have claimed that the Jaguars would have won the Superbowl with Jameis and not Blake Bortles.
Did you know that Bortles lost his #1 receiver, Allen Robinson, in the first game of the season? Did you know that the Jags’ #2 receiver, Allen Hurns, played only 10 games, and only started eight. Did you know that Bortles had 6 TDs and 0 INTs in the first quarter of games this year? Did you know that Bortles threw for 8 TDs and only 3 INTs during the 2nd qtr. of games? Did you know that he threw for 7 TDs and only 3 INTs during the 3rd quarter of games this year? Do you think that having a QB throw for 21 TDs and only 6 INTs through the first three quarters might, just might, have helped their defense to play a bit more aggressively? But yeah he sucked compared to our messiah, America’s quarterback, Probowler, Jameis Winston, who threw for only 5 TDs and 5 INTs during the first half of games, and not a single TD pass during the 2nd quarter.
Imagine how he might have done if ME13 went down in the first game, and he had lost Brate or Jackson. But you’re right, the Jameis-led Bucs offense scored 18.96 points per game (and that’s adding any defensive scores, if any to his total).
tickrdr
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:02 pm
@ Realist
“Good on joe to actually post this story!!!!! Even though it was thoughtfully posted 1st on Saturday morning so it would quickly get buried by other upcoming stories!!!!!!”
You are getting quite grumpy and cynical lately…….have you forgotten your MiraLax?
And, be careful challenging Joe’s motivation with stories…..as Joe will tell you “Joe writes what interests Joe and what Joe likes”…..
I speak from experience here…..
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Webster,I agree with most of the things you said but your friend is a damn idiot!tell him to go to Oakland or Philly or Baltimore where they burn the very town that they live in and wont work.tell your ignorant friend to go to Chicago and see how he likes those fans and that dumpof a city!you have one ignorant friend!tell him to keep flying his rainbow flag and be happy!being smart is out of the question for him however!
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Pretty sure Joe has pointed out before — several times actually — that George was a nitwit and Jameis has every intangible a team would want. But, carry on.
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:38 pm
But carry on,LMAO 😂😂😂
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:45 pm
Love those comments. That’s all we care about too Jameis. Yes the fumbles are a problem. How about some more 3 step drops Dirky? Alot of those fumbles are on the design and play calling. The Bucs have got to have the least amount of underneath throws and routes of every team in the league. For some reason Dirk doesnt see the screens and quick hitters as an extension of the run game like most coaches. I hope this offseason he is looking at and fixing that. That’d be a huge help to Jameis and get this team to an elite offense in my mind.
June 2nd, 2018 at 2:30 pm
“George was a nitwit and Jameis has every intangible a team would want.”
So why make the comparison at all? Other than both being #1 overall picks there’s very little to compare.
June 2nd, 2018 at 3:02 pm
@ john meeks
I am not sure what those cities have to do with what i posted or how idiotic some buc fans are. You seem to be the ignorant one here sir.
June 2nd, 2018 at 3:16 pm
@ john meeks
I re-read your post and im guessing you feel the friend i speak of is black. Well sir, he is white as snow. He just knows this fan base is not very smart. Maybe i should tell him to go to green bay? Gtfooh
June 3rd, 2018 at 2:49 am
I think the Bucs are going to turn the corner finally and get some serious wins. I think the defense is where they’ll come from. My concerns are Dotson isn’t good and JPP not being at OTA’s yet. I hope he’s ready to go but being with your team builds chemistry and camaraderie. That doesn’t happen overnight and he gets paid good money. So I don’t get it, and one should never start a new job by not being there. Even if he’s not 100% he should be there. The team needs him or Licht wouldn’t have stuck his neck out to get him. This just looks really bad to me. Dude, check your ego at the door and put in the work to win a championship. Lesser talented have done it. This team can be every bit as good as the Super Bowl Bucs. I hope a couple of players don’t screw it up for the rest.