Jameis Winston has been preparing for Tennessee since OTAs
By David Rumsey
Bucs Monday Recap
The big news regarding the Buccaneers on Monday was the trade of TE Tim Wright to the Detroit Lions for K Kyle Brindza. The trade was announced while the Bucs were back at practice after their 31-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Saturday night. After practice Head Coach Lovie Smith, Offensive Coordinator Dirk Koetter and QB Jameis Winston spoke to the media, answering questions about Saturday’s poor performance and what their doing to get better.
QB Jameis Winston
Even after a disappointing performance Winston still kept a positive vibe and focused on learning from the experience. This was Winston’s response to how he feels about the Bucs poor play:
“I feel good because we got so much stuff from that film that we can learn on, especially from the blitz pickup standpoint.”
It’s good that Winston isn’t letting one sloppy start get him down, but there’s no doubt he has to play better in order for the Bucs to succeed. He made no excuses for his play, even though he could have fallen back on the fact that he had sprained his ankle against the Bengals just five days earlier.
“Pain is temporary,” Winston said. “I really don’t focus on that at all. I played last year at Florida State with a sprained ankle, so that’s the least of my worries. My job is to go out there and play quarterback and fight for the team.”
Winston really is a tough competitor and he is definitely setting an example for the rest of the team when it comes to dealing with adversity.
As far as what’s next, Winston didn’t focus too much on the Bucs final preseason game against the Miami Dolphins. Instead, the rookie mentioned that him and the other Buccaneer quarterbacks have been studying Tennessee since OTAs. That’s good to hear because the way the Bucs have played so far they will need all the preparation they can get to have a chance to win week 1.
OC Dirk Koetter
The offense had trouble moving the ball all night vs. the Browns and Koetter made no excuses for the bad play.
“Bottom line, we stunk; not good enough in any phase on offense.”
Koetter said he thought the offense took two steps forward against Cincinnati but definitely took a step back against Cleveland, Jameis Winston included. He had this to say of Winston’s interception in the 1st quarter:
“At the end of the day he’s the one that has to cut our losses and he just made a bad decision.”
While Winston said his sprained ankle had no effect on his play, Koetter felt a little differently.
“It’s affecting him a little bit,” Koetter said. “But he’ll be ready to go; he’ll be full-speed by Tennessee. Its not anything he can’t play on.”
Speaking of Tennessee, Koetter is expecting Titans DC Dick Lebeau to throw a lot of different blitzes at Winston opening day. Koetter expects the game to be a “pressure-fest.”
HC Lovie Smith
After getting a chance to watch the tape of Saturday night’s loss Smith was obviously not happy with what he said there are a lot of things they need to clean up.
Injury wise, Smith said LT Donovan Smith didn’t practice because of a sprained ankle, but didn’t say how much longer he would be out for.
When asked about Jameis Winston, Smith said the rookie is in a good place right now even though he isn’t quite ready for Tennessee.
“We’ve given him a lot of different looks,” Smith said.” He’s come a long ways for a rookie quarterback and we feel really good about where he is.”
Smith also addressed the trade that brought in Lions K Kyle Brindza. He said he’s been surprised with Patrick Murray’s poor performance in the preseason and that you can’t miss FGs like Murray and Barth did against the Browns.
The Bucs have another short week to get ready for their final preseason game against the Dolphins, although the starters may not play this week. Smith said they’ve had a plan on how to approach the four preseason games and they’re not going to change it just because of how the team played Saturday night.