Ready or not, it gets real soon for Buccaneers
Winston is completing 48.9 percent of his passes and has a 52.7 quarterback rating in the preseason.By Martin Fennelly | Tribune Staff Published: August 31, 2015 TAMPA — This is going to get very real very quickly.Two weeks from now, it matters, a frightening thought for Bucs fans, given how Jameis Winston and the club looked Saturday in their third preseason game, an ugly loss to Cleveland.Thursday’s game in Miami, like so many other fourth exhibitions, is the last stop before reality. I’d be surprised if Winston played. If I was the Bucs, I wouldn’t go out of my way to advertise that their franchise quarterback doesn’t look ready. He looked overwhelmed at times by Browns blitz packages.Aren’t third preseason games supposed to be about fine tuning?Winston was out of tune Saturday. Likewise his team. It couldn’t protect him. But he didn’t help.“No, he didn’t play well, like the rest of our football team,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith.“It was just a learning experience,” Winston said.What’s the over/under on Jameis interceptions this season?This is going to get very real very quickly.Two weeks from now, the Tennessee Titans will be here for a fascinating season opener — Winston and Marcus Mariota, in the same stadium.Back to Saturday.I know preseason is so much nonsense, but do you really want the Browns to rub your face in the soggy sod? Do you want to be carved up by none other than Josh McCown, the guy dumped to make way for Jameis?We can still see the tracks of McCown’s tears and turnovers in Bucs history, but there he was, outplaying Winston. McCown is a good and decent man. Only he wasn’t the answer at Bucs quarterback. That’s why Jameis is here.But will he get here already?Through three games, Winston has completed 23 of 47 passes. That’s 48.9 percent. He has a 52.7 quarterback rating. Also not good. Did we mention that Mariota is humming along with Tennessee, throwing to a 70.4 percent completion rate? I’m just saying.Saturday, Winston wasn’t good at all. He went 6-for-15 for 90 yards. He threw his second interception of the postseason, on the run and under pressure, an awful decision that led to a Cleveland field goal.“In that situation, I’ve just got to throw it around or maybe just throw it away,” Winston said.There was the early sack he took when he held on to the ball too long.“When they bring more than you can block, you got to get it out,” Winston said.He was sacked to end the first half. He was sacked in the third quarter, on his last snap of the evening. A three-and-out to begin his night, a three-and-out to end it. Nice.Then again, even if Winston had been great this preseason, two weeks from now was still going to be that great gettin’ up morning.This is going to get very real very quickly.I think Winston will look bad as many times as he’ll look good on the way to turning the corner, assuming he does. I wouldn’t be surprised if he throws more touchdowns than interceptions this season. He’s zero TDs to two picks in the preseason.Winston did lead the Bucs on a touchdown drive, albeit a quick one — a 26-yard pass to Vincent Jackson, followed by a 19-yard TD run by Doug Martin. That was pretty much it. The Bucs offense looked anemic. There might be a lot of that before it gets its act together, assuming it does.Saturday’s game was interesting. There was Winston. There was McCown, the man who was sent packing in the name of Winston. There was Mike Glennon, pushed aside in the name of Winston.Also at Saturday’s game, but not in uniform for Cleveland (elbow) was Johnny Manziel, who the Bucs could have taken in the draft instead of signing McCown. The Bucs passed on Johnny Football. That looks like a pretty good call right about now, you know, except for the signing McCown part.The Bucs passed on Mariota, too.During and after Saturday’s game, the video boards at Raymond James Stadium advertised the 2015 opener. Featured were images of Jameis and Marcus, ready to throw.This is going to get very real very quickly.
