Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5 Lessons learned vs. Panthers in Week 2

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers notched their first victory of the 2019 season Thursday night, beating division rival Carolina on the road. Here are five lessons we learned from the Week 2 victory.

Following a solid defensive performance in the Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned in an even better showing during the 20-14 victory over the Panthers in Charlotte Thursday night. The obvious part of that, of course, is that it resulted in a win to move the Buccaneers to 1-1 on the year.

The defensive showing wasn’t the only thing that happened for Tampa Bay, though. As a whole, the team came up strong overall and taught us several things about their future.

Let’s take a look at five of the lessons that we learned from the Week 2 win and break them down.

5. The Bucs have a shot when Winston holds onto the ball

Was it the prettiest performance we’ve ever seen from Jameis Winston? Of course not. However, it was smart and efficient. I only saw one bad throw Thursday night: an underthrown intermediate pass that was almost intercepted by Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly. But it wasn’t intercepted, and Winston didn’t turn the ball over once.

Head coach Bruce Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich don’t need Winston to play Superman each week. They have a balanced offense (more on that later) that will take shots on the defense when the time calls for it. Winston’s deep pass while in his own end zone and his 41-yard completion to top receiver Mike Evans is evidence of that.

They just need Winston to make smart decisions with the football. That was apparent last night, and his lack of turnovers was a big reason why the Bucs got their first win of the season.