All-Twenty-Tuesday: Bucs QB Jameis Winston

This week’s we’re going to look at Jameis Winston’s four interceptions from the Cincinnati game and break down just why in the world they happened.

In the first one, Winston was trying to hit Evans on a post rote over the middle and just seems to throw it too high. I’m not sure if the timing of the route was off, as it seemed Mike Evans wasn’t quite ready for it, but that ball likely would’ve been way over Evans’ head regardless. Winston clearly stares down Evans and isn’t even seeing Adam Humphries open underneath for a safer 6-yard gain.

It doesn’t look much better from the second angle, either. It also appeared to be thrown a little behind Evans, in addition to it being high. That seems to be why Evans wasn’t able to put more effort into going for the ball. If it was out in front of him, maybe he could have gotten his arm up there, but it being behind him meant the pass was dead on arrival.

That one’s all Winston, and an example of how he struggles with accuracy/consistency/decision-making.

Winston’s second interception thrown to Bengals linebacker Preston Brown was just… awful. I mean, there’s no other way to put it.

The term “throw the ball away” does not exist with Winston. He’s said to the media before that that’s something he’s working on, learning to throw it away and live to fight another day. That’s a lie. He’s not. He never has. There’s no way there’s that much disconnect.

Winston never, at any point, believes throwing the ball away is the best option.

Winston just looks so uncomfortable here that it makes my skin crawl watching it. He panics, and you can just see the panic in his eyes as he’s still looking downfield. You beg him not to throw the ball, but at the end of the clip, every time, he does, and it goes right to the linebacker.

Winston does not take care of the football. It’s not in his football DNA. He says he needs to get better, but plays like the one above, ones happening in his fourth year in the league, are evidence I use to say maybe he truly just won’t.

On Winston’s third interception, he once again had a lack of accuracy that turned into a pick, this time throwing towards tight end Cameron Brate.

Brate and Evans are suppose to be Winston’s most comfortable receivers, and he overthrew both of them so badly on Sunday that he turned the ball over twice. Both plays also had little pressure to them. They were just blatant misses.

On the end zone camera, there is some pressure coming his way, but not enough to fully panic the way Winston did. He leaned to his right and threw to his left and that caused his pass to sail. Bad mechanics.

In the end, it was just a terrible over throw of a pass. That just can’t happen. That is too easy of a throw for a starting quarterback to make.

Winston’s fourth interception wasn’t just his worst of the season, it’s one of the worst ones he’s made as a starter.

With his back to the goal line, Winston stared down Humphries, who was the hot read on a post route against 2-deep coverage. Winston never even glanced over at safety Jessie Bates, who was in a robber role to jump that exact route, and threw the easy pick-6.

The worst part about this throw is that Winston never even tried to manipulate the safety. That’s the kind of “next step” stuff Winston is supposed to be getting better at that he just isn’t. He’s still a rookie in his fourth year in the league.

Consistency is the number one problem with Winston. It just doesn’t exists in his game.

I’ve said this before, but the goal of a team is not to make the playoffs. It’s not to get one winning record and then just go back to losing. It’s to get to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl.

In order to do that, not only do you have to win more games than you lose, which Winston hasn’t with a 19-29 record as a starter, you have to then put on three or four great performances in a row against tougher and tough competition, which Winston certainly hasn’t done, even in the regular season. Even if Winston were to win his next 10 games – in a row! – he would only be .500 as a starting QB in the NFL.

Days like the one against the Bengals and throws like the ones we pointed out are some of the reasons why. Winston’s held the team back, at times, just like factors around him have.