Whenever Jameis Winston has been asked what he needs to improve on, the rookie quarterback routinely answers, "protecting the football." Over the course of the past three games, he has done just that. Winston has gone three games without throwing a pick. With that, the Buccaneers have put together three of their best games this season.
"I think Jameis had a little bit of a tendency, earlier – the way we put a play in the way we practiced it – that's exactly how it was going to be in the game and not really look at what the defense is doing," Offensive Coordinator Dirk Koetter said. "He's just being smarter with the football, smarter with his decisions and, for the most part, getting the ball out of his hands quicker. Not always – we still have some work to do on that. The whole quarterback rating thing is if you don' throw interceptions, your quarterback rating is going to be okay and he hasn't been throwing interceptions."
Winston will say that he's improving across the board in several areas. But on Wednesday, he said his decision-making was the biggest improvement he's made so far.
"Taking care of the football, making things simple" Winston said when asked about the area he's made the most improvement in this season. "Obviously, I have tremendous help. Doug [Martin] has continued to power the football, punish defenses and the offensive line has just been playing amazing. I don't look at it as me having success. I look at it as our team just having great chemistry and our offense just clicking."
This three-game stretch has been a significant one for Winston. In his two years at Florida State, he never completed three games in a row without throwing an interception. He's done that in just eight games in the NFL.
Photos of rookie QB Jameis Winston's performance against the Falcons.
