The sky is falling.

The end is near.

The Bucs should cut quarterback Jameis Winston before he gets on the plane back to Cincinnati.

Heck, Roger Goodell should just fold the Bucs franchise because their franchise QB is struggling.

These were the feelings of many Bucs fans at 4:02 p.m. last Sunday when the Bucs lost their fourth game of the season to the Bengals on a last-second field goal, 37-34.

All because Jameis Winston threw four interceptions and the Tampa Bay lost at Cincinnatl.

Overreaction Monday is what I called it and nearly a week later I haven’t changed my mind.

Look, it was awful. The Bucs lost that game, with a huge part of the blame squarely on the shoulders of No. 3. There is no defense (pun intended) for his performance. Winston is the first to tell you that. And Dirk Koetter absolutely made the right call – and really the only call he could make – by benching Winston this week in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick.

But let’s go ahead and clear up a misconception. Yes, I am a huge Florida State Seminole fan. My dad graduated from USF in the 1970s where there was no football at the time. It was 1978 and I had just started getting into football, and he coached my little league team. He gravitated towards Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, an ordained Baptist minister, over the crooked program that Charley Pell was running in Gainesville. So that is how I became an FSU fan.

QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

I hear the comments and read the tweets about me. I wear garnet colored glasses. I am biased. I love Winston because of his time in Tallahassee. The fact is, Winston has done nothing to help Florida State win or lose since he walked off the field following a disappointing loss to the Oregon Ducks in the college football playoffs in January of 2015.

So once a player leaves Florida State my personal allegiance leaves with them. I am a fan of the program, not an individual player. I hated the Roberto Aguayo pick. Hated it. Ask Scott Reynolds if you don’t believe me. He’ll confirm it.

Yes, I liked FSU running back Dalvin Cook in 2017 and he would have looked good in pewter, but I would have 100 percent selected tight end O.J. Howard at No. 19 that year. It wasn’t even close. And yes, I would have absolutely taken safety Derwin James over defensive tackle Vita Vea this year. But not because he played at Florida State, but because this team desperately needed secondary help in my opinion more than a rotational run stuffer.

If James had been a Gator or a Hurricane I would have still stumped for the Bucs to take him over Vea. That’s my opinion based on who I feel would have been a better fit for this team.

Now that is out of the way, let’s get back to the over reaction and crazy talk from so many about Winston.

To give up on Winston now would be the most “Buccaneer” move this franchise could possibly make.

Qb Doug Willains: Photo by Allen’s Studio/Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

You know a “Buccaneer” move – like letting Doug Williams walk away in 1982.

A “Buccaneer” move – like drafting Bo Jackson after he made it clear he would never suit up in orange and white.

A “Buccaneer” move – by deciding Steve Young wasn’t very good and they should draft Vinny Testaverde.

A “Buccaneer” move – like firing Jon Gruden and replacing him with the “youngry” Raheem Morris.

You get my drift, right? This franchise has made numerous “Buccaneer” moves in its 42-year history. Giving up on the 24-year old Winston would be another one, in my opinion. At least at this point.

Winston may never pan out. But don’t call him Josh Freeman or Jamarcus Russell 2.0. It isn’t even close. Winston very well may never lead this team to a Super Bowl, but to say he can’t play quarterback in the NFL is ludicrous. He’s passed for 12,817 yards, thrown 75 touchdown passes and has a career passer rating of 86.1.

Winston is, as Reynolds calls him, a turnover machine. No one can argue that his turnovers are unacceptable. There were plenty of indications coming out of college that this was an issue. But in college, Winston was able to overcome his on-the-field greed and carelessness. The NFL is a whole different ball game however.

Four-interception games, like he had against the Gators in November of 2014 (FSU still won), don’t get overcome in the NFL like they did when he was in college.

Until Winston figures that out, it will be hard for him to be considered a good quarterback in the NFL. Those are just facts. Something has to change. How or if that happens is up to just one person.

Not Koetter, not general manager Jason Licht, not offensive coordinator Todd Monken or quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian. It will come from one person – Winston himself.

While you never want to coach the gunslinger out of Winston, or make him a conservative game manager, he has to find that balance between the two. A perfect example was the first pick he threw against the Bengals.

Winston wanted the TD pass.

Then.

Not three plays later, but right then.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

He never once looked anywhere but at Mike Evans, and completely ignored an open Adam Humphries underneath. So the Bucs get seven yards there maybe. A couple of Peyton Barber runs, heck, even a couple throwaways and only three points. But a Chandler Catanzaro field goal would have been the difference-maker in the game.

Instead the greed took over, Winston made an inaccurate throw and it ended up in the hands of a Bengals defender. He didn’t need to be a game manager there – just a smart football player, one who can be trusted and one that his teammates would respect.

Something isn’t right about Winston this season. The fact that he has thrown 10 interceptions and just six touchdowns in his fourth year in the NFL is disturbing. Reynolds pointed out in his eye-opening SR’s Fab 5 on Friday that Winston is feeling the pressure of several different factors in his life right now.

I’m 48 – twice Winston’s age. Good Lord, what were most of us doing at age 24? How many of us had the pressure of playing quarterback in the NFL after being thrust into being the face of a franchise while being a father, losing his captainship, and playing for a fifth-year contract that will pay him $20.92 million while being sued civilly by a female Uber driver he alleged groped two years ago. Winston is carrying around some baggage right now – much of it self-inflicted – but it comes with pressure nonetheless.

Sitting Winston this week in favor of Fitzpatrick was smart, and really the only thing Koetter could do. Maybe he gets it all together. Maybe he doesn’t, but the calls for him to be traded or cut is an overreaction at this point. Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out.

While people love to point out the turnovers Winston has had this season (11 total) but how about the fact this defense has one interception through seven games? One. Uno. Ein. What if the defense had created 11 takeaways? How many more wins would they have? Why is this not getting talked about more? Where is the balance?

Hell, everyone knew Brett Farve was good for two turnovers nearly every game. But you know why the Packers still won? Because the Green Bay went out to get a future Hall of Famer in defensive end Reggie White to improve a defense that could be counted on to get two or three takeaways to take some of the pressure off Favre.

And when the Buccaneers have won this season, it was usually because the defense helped do its part. Did I mention the Bucs have an NFL-worst one interception in seven games?

Winston has dug himself into the hole he is in. I am not going to argue any different. And he alone will dig himself out, or he will become a journeyman quarterback in the vein of Testaverde, Fitzpatrick or Kerry Collins. Winston will throw for a bunch of yards, play a long time in the NFL and probably make a lot of money doing so. But overall his career will most likely be a disappointment if he doesn’t learn that he doesn’t have to make every play, every throw, every series.

And his time in Tampa Bay will end quickly if that doesn’t happen.

There is still a ceiling for Winston to reach. And he will have to climb quite a ladder to reach it. No one is going to hoist him up.

The first step up that ladder started Monday when he was benched. But to give up on Winston now makes me cringe. Who wants to see him join Williams, Young or even Trent Dilfer as former Bucs quarterbacks who end up lifting a Lombardi Trophy – for another team?

To give up on a 24-year old quarterback with a ceiling left to reach, at least at this point would be the most “Buccaneer” move this team could make. He should remain in Tampa Bay in 2019 even if it means paying him $20.92 million next year while not guaranteeing that he will be the starter and making him earn the position in camp against Fitzpatrick or another quarterback.

Now excuse me while I go iron my Seminole footie pajamas and robe and re-watch the the 2013 Florida State national championship game against the Auburn Tigers.