Getty Image / Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire
Jameis Winston had an outrageous season. He ranked 1st in Passing Yards (5,109), 2nd in Passing Touchdowns (33 behind Lamar’s 36), and he ranked 1st in Interceptions. It marked the first time in NFL history that a quarterback threw for at least 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season.
This was a contract year for Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now tasked with evaluating whether to re-sign him, the length of that contract, or if they should just move along. It would seem insane to walk away from a QB who led the league in yards but when you factor in things like Jameis throwing seven Pick-6’s this season, including one on the team’s last play of the year, it becomes a pretty complicated decision.
In his post-game remarks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians didn’t mince words when asked about Jameis Winston’s performance and on-field woes. When asked about the pick-six to end the game, Arians addressed the question head-on:
“It smells as bad as it could possibly smell and it’ll smell that way for a long time,” Arians said of the loss on Winston’s seventh pick-six of the season.
“I think an overtime loss, giving the ball away for a touchdown? I can’t think of anything worse.”
When asked if the Bucs will bring Jameis back with a long-term contract, here’s what Arians had to say:
“You look at it and there’s so much good and so much outright terrible,” Arians said. “We got to weigh that and see what happens.”
Is it good enough to bring back Winston?
“We’ll see,” Arians said. (via TBT)
This one REALLY burns.
#GoBucs coach Bruce Arians, when asked if this team could win with another quarterback: “With another quarterback? Oh yeah. If we can win with this one, we can definitely win with another one, too.’’
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 30, 2019
One reporter asked the coach about Winston’s vision problems which have been obvious since Jameis’ time at FSU with the squinting. Here’s what he had to say on that:
Asked Bruce Arians about Jameis Winston’s vision issues. His response was simply: “He’s near-sighted. He can’t see the scoreboard, but he can see the guys in front of him.” #Bucs
— Thomas Bassinger (@tometrics) December 30, 2019
— Thomas Bassinger (@tometrics) December 30, 2019
As for that final pick-six that ended Tampa Bay’s season? Jameis said the ball was tipped while the head coach just said it was a bad decision.
Winston said the last pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage. But Arians called it a bad decision to throw the football to Brate.
“Sure looked like (a bad decision),” Arians said. “He was covered. He’s throwing to his favorite guy but he’s covered.”
“He was open,” Winston said. “This is football. This is a game of inches. The ball got tipped and it went straight to him. There’s been a lot of instances where I throw to Cam and it’s a bang-bang play that we get a first down completion. If the ball (doesn’t) get tipped, it’s a completion. The ball gets tipped, it magically ends up in someone’s hands. That’s stuff you can’t control.”
https://twitter.com/FTBeard11/status/1211526647897153536
Bruce Arians will now evaluate if Winston’s turnover issue is something that is fixable. He told reporters “that’s one of the things I’m going to have to evaluate”.
Arians is a renowned ‘quarterback whisperer’ so if I had to wager on whether or not the Bucs are going to bring Jameis back I’d say in all likelihood he’ll be suiting up in Tampa Bay next season. In a perfect world, they’d be able to sign him to a large 1-year contract but I cannot imagine how Jameis would go for something like that if he’s been expecting to sign something long-term.