Jameis Winston Credits Coaches, Reps For Personal Turnaround

Jameis Winston, for as well as he’s played, had a rocky start to the season. Yet, once again, the turnover issues seem to be under control.

No quarterback is perfect. Not one. There are elite quarterbacks, great quarterbacks, good, bad, etc. Yet, not one of them gets through a season mistake free. Early in the year, Jameis Winston was no exception to this. In the first four games, Jameis turned the ball over ten times. Eight interceptions as well as two lost fumbles.

Since then – over the last seven games, Winston has fourteen touchdown passes and only three interceptions and two fumbles. That means Winston is clipping along at almost a 3:1 touchdown to turnover ratio.

Pretty impressive.

Much like last year, Winston seems to have willed himself to protect the ball. However, when asked about it Winston simply passed the credit along;

“I think I’m just sticking to my goal and it’s simple and that’s just getting better every single day. [Quarterbacks] Coach [Mike] Bajakian and [Head] Coach [Dirk] Koetter do a great job of just the type of drills that we’re doing in individual, the amount of work, the amount of reps that we get to just work on our technique stuff. And it’s worked. Coach Bajakian is a hard worker and he stays on me about rhythm and accuracy, rhythm and precision, two hands in the pocket, and it’s worked.

I haven’t thought about [mechanics] since I came out for the Combine. My main thing is just to make sure I have the game plan down. Technique-wise, you can work on so many different things in practice, that’s what practice is for. You can work on your drops, you can work on your play-actions, you can work on touch balls. Everything that I get a chance to work on at practice, I try to make the most of it.”

Winston is certainly one of, if not the biggest reason the Buccaneers are in playoff contention. Although the month of December has not been kind – 11-37 over the last ten seasons – Winston has his team ready each and every week. The defense is feeding off the leadership Winston brings, as well as the type of leader he challenged Gerald McCoy to be this year.

If the Buccaneers are going to continue this hot streak through the rest of the season, they’re going to have to rely heavily on Jameis Winston continuing to take care of the football and create offensive opportunities for his teammates.