Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Studs and duds vs. Saints in Week 11
Following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ disappointing 34-17 loss to division rival New Orleans, here are a few studs and duds from the contest.
I’m not sure if there has ever been a bigger case of Jekyll and Hyde amongst NFL quarterbacks than with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ Jameis Winston. He will go from one spectacular play to an absolutely bone-headed one the next. There is no in-between for Winston, as he has shown time and time again during his fifth season in Tampa.
Head coach Bruce Arians and his staff were brought in for one big reason: to revitalize Winston’s career and get him on the right track. Unfortunately, it seems as if that will never happen following yet another terrible outing from the former number one overall pick.
After another abysmal loss to the Saints to drop the Bucs to 3-7, here are the studs and duds from today’s contest.
Dud: Jameis Winston, QB (30 of 51, 313 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs)
Of course, I had to give Winston the first dud. Granted, he wasn’t put in the best spots. The Bucs’ play-calling was atrocious (more on that in a minute) and at least one interception was almost certainly not his fault. He was also hit more times than he could count (more on the offensive line in a bit as well) and was limping around on one good leg by the end of the game.
However, he still made a lot of the same dumb mistakes he’s made since his college days at Florida State. The pick-six made by Marcus Williams to essentially seal the game was symptomatic of that. He should have known what route Mike Evans was running. He shouldn’t have thrown that pass. Yet he did, and the Saints were able to ice the game.
His final interception was arguably worse. How do you underthrow a fade route to Evans? Seriously? That ball deserved to be intercepted.
After this season, it’s time to move on from the Winston experiment. He’s shown little to no improvement over five seasons and Arians needs someone fresh to work with and mold into a franchise quarterback.
Stud: Devin White, LB (13 combined tackles, 11 solo)
What a game by the Bucs’ 2019 first-round pick. White was all over the field in the contest, making stops from sideline to sideline, and in the backfield as well. Despite quite a few calls from analysts around the league stating the Bucs made a mistake with this pick, make no mistake about it: White was an excellent selection and he will prove that for years to come.
His big third-down stop of Latavius Murray late in the fourth quarter is a perfect example of what he brings to the table: a tough, fast and physical inside linebacker that is in a great position to make a play more often than not. I’m excited to see how he continues to develop moving forward.