The Pewter Plank
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Buccaneers: The secret to make Jameis Winston elite

By Rob Leeds

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 01: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field on December 01, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 01: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field on December 01, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 08: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throws a pass during the fourth quarter of a football game against the Indianapolis Colts at Raymond James Stadium on December 08, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 08: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throws a pass during the fourth quarter of a football game against the Indianapolis Colts at Raymond James Stadium on December 08, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

The answer, you may ask?

The solution? Jameis Winston needs to start every game with an intentional interception. The way the interception can be thrown can be dealer’s choice each week. Perhaps the fans can vote before the game or Bruce Arians can spin a wheel on the 50 yard line after the National Anthem. Regardless of how the decision is made, Jameis needs to start out the game with an interception on the first drive.

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For the sake of this example we will say that the Buccaneers decide to run a slant route for the first play of the game where an unseen-by-Jameis-linebacker crashes on the route picking him off. This may sound familiar because it seems as though this has been the start of most games so far this season. What happens next though goes against conventional football wisdom.

After the interception is on the board and the defense (hopefully) holds, this is when Jameis enters the zone. While most quarterbacks hit a slump after an interception, for some reason in most situations Jameis tends to play his best football after the first interception has been thrown. This can be seen time and time again and has been a clear trend during this impressive winning streak that the Buccaneers have posted.

Most recently this happened against the Detroit Lions who Jameis was able to put on a clinic against after his first interception was thrown. Winston finished the game with 458 passing yards and four touchdowns. This game was one of the best performances of Winston’s career and was assuredly the most impressive as he threw to a wide range of receivers not named Mike Evans due to an injury.

The same thing happened against the Colts the week before that. Jameis started out the game with an interception on the first drive yet he finished the game with 456 passing yards and four touchdowns yet again. Between these two weeks Jameis was lights out through the air and set an NFL record for throwing for 450+ yards for two consecutive weeks.

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