Jameis Winston: Tempering the Buccaneers Gunslinger

Throughout Jameis Winston‘s college and professional career he has maintained the same style of playing quarterback, with lots of dramatic highs and lows. Can it be conducive to winning Super Bowls?

Few passers in the history of football have embodied the word “gunslinger” more than Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston does. Going as far back as his freshman season at Florida State, Winston’s aggressive play style has been his calling card. A tirelessly aggressive approach has its costs however, which come in the form of back-breaking interceptions from Winston. In two seasons at Florida State and two with the Buccaneers, Winston is yet to throw less than double digit interceptions, and has thrown fifteen in three of those four seasons. More than likely this season will be another in the double digits.

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Similar to other recent gunslingers like Brett Favre,  Carson Palmer and Eli Manning, Winston is able to cover up for his mistakes with brilliant plays throughout the rest of the game. His interception numbers are scary, but in two professional seasons he’s accounted for 28 and 29 touchdowns passing and rushing. Just as gunslingers are known for interceptions, they’re loved for their penchant for big plays. Winston checks that box as well, sitting near the top in yards per completion both of his seasons as a professional.

Three games into the 2017 season and an apt summary of Winston has been “hot and cold”, and some statistics seem to support that. According to Pro Football Focus, Winston is consistently throwing good passes, but is also off target on a high clip of passes. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Four games is too small a sample size to determine how Winston will do in remaining twelve games, but with Doug Martin back and his offensive line playing at a high level, Winston has more than enough opportunity to shed the ugliest parts of his gunslinger approach.

The key to tempering Jameis seems to be found in the running game. When Tampa is able to pace the offense with a consistent ground attack, Winston seems to be at his deadliest. We’ve seen this as recently as last week against the Giants when the Bucs were able to get Jacquizz Rodgers going. Winston promptly threw three touchdowns and had a mostly clean day.

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Against the New England Patriots the Buccaneers were able to get Doug Martin going and Winston was able to take care of the football and go without an interception for the second straight game. Unfortunately the game as a whole was another example of inconsistent Jameis. Through the first three quarters his accuracy was shaky and he wasn’t able to pick up third downs to sustain drives. He eventually got going in the fourth, but it was too little too late.

Winston’s high variance of play will probably be the story of his career, the words that some dramatic narrator reads over his “30 For 30” documentary once he’s retired. What do you think about Winston thus far in 2017, Buccaneer fans? Do you think he’ll shake his bad habits, and what are your expectations for the rest of the season? Sound off in the comments below!