is Winston to improve on ball security. I've said numerous times over the last two seasons that "I'm fine" with what I'm seeing from Winston. But, I never said "I'm thrilled". The main point of focus is turnovers. In his rookie season, he threw 15 picks and lost 2 fumbles. That's not something I would complain about and I'm not going to now. To me, that's perfectly acceptable and expected. What happened last year, is completely not expected nor acceptable is the increase in Int's to 18 and fumbles lost to 6. In total, that's 24 turnovers. People, that's not good... at all. People for years have ragged on Jay Cutler turning the ball over. Do you know how many times in his 11 year career he turned the ball over 24 times in a season? Twice... the first at age 26 in his 4th year (first under Lovie Smith), where he threw 26 Int's (no fumbles lost that year), and again at age 31, in year 9 of his career.
Winston absolutely needs to improve in this part of his game. This I believe is something that will significantly impact his career. It's not the end of the world if he doesn't, as Brett Favre was a turnover machine as well. Even to that extent though, Brett Favre for all his greatness, was a tremendous underachiever because of those turnovers. He did win 1 Super Bowl, and made it to a second, but for a Hall-of-Fame career, he like Peyton Manning, didn't have a good post-season record (13-11)... and the ONLY reason he has a winning playoff record, is because he did win that one Super Bowl. In the other 11 appearances, he has a losing record. Folks, even the sucky Joe Flacco has a winning post season record (6-5), if you discount his 4-0 Super Bowl season.
Trent Dilfer said it a number of year ago, and I completely agree with him that you need at least 40 games before you can really judge your QB. I haven't said one thing about what kind of QB I think Winston will be, but I will AFTER this coming season, and those turnovers will be a huge factor. Simply, the turnovers need to stop.
