Jameis Winston backed up his words.
He told Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans not to panic after his lackluster preseason debut, and he gave those fans a reason not to panic Monday night.
The NFL’s top overall draft pick completed eight of 13 passes for 90 yards and ran for a touchdown to open the scoring in the Bucs’ 25-11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Tampa Bay.
Grading on a preseason curve, Winston gets an ‘A-minus’ for his performance. The grading will be more rigorous in the regular season.
Winston is taking on the aura of a franchise quarterback. He completed all three of his passes for 27 yards on that opening, 80-yard drive and scored the touchdown on a bootleg. His eight completions went to seven different receivers. It would have been eight if he hadn’t overthrown Mike Evans on a potential 69-yard touchdown. So he showed that he doesn’t need to lean on any one receiver.
The rookie mixed screen passes, passes in the flat and downfield passes. Even though preseason games don’t count in the standings, “making all the throws” in a preseason game carries more weight than doing it at the NFL Scouting Combine.
On 1st-and-20 early in the second quarter, Winston completed a 22-yard pass to Russell Shepard. He had a small window because Shepard was in the heart of the Bengals’ coverage.
That brought the Bucs to the Bengals’ 17, but the drive petered out from there. A false start penalty, a 10-yard sack and an intentional grounding penalty on Winston dragged the Bucs back to the 42 and they had to punt.
Winston’s grade takes a hit because of his inability to complete that drive, but the Buccaneers have something to work with. They soon could set themselves apart from that class of NFL teams that are constantly searching for a quarterback.
Even in his postgame press conference, Winston showed something. He just wore a plain dress shirt. No fancy get-up. He certainly could afford the type of flashy suit that some NFL players wear when they sit down in front of that microphone. But Winston dressed like a guy who has a job to do.