Jameis Winston is the NFL’s best bad quarterback

There are quarterbacks who will perform above and beyond the efforts of those around them, bringing wins to a franchise that never would have happened with a league-average signal-caller. And there are quarterbacks who will do the inverse for however many unfortunate teams willing to select them in the draft, sign them as free agents, or trade for their services.

More rarely, you get the kind of quarterback who maddeningly resides in the middle — the guy who will lose you games you should win, win you games you should lose, and give you absolutely no indication from one week to the next when you’re going to get.

Jameis Winston is unquestionably one of those “in the middle” guys. Winston threw an interception on Tampa Bay’s first drive of the game Sunday against the Lions, and it was the fifth time this season he’s done that. Winston’s 24 interceptions lead the league, and you’d think his coaches and teammates are tired of their quarterback putting them in the lurch so often.

Except what Winston tends to do when he gets those early picks out of the way. In a 38-17 win over Detroit, Winston completed 28 of 42 passes for 458 yards, four touchdowns, and that one interception. With that, Winston became the first quarterback in NFL history with two straight games with more than 450 passing yards — he threw for 456 yards in Week 14 against the Colts in a 38-35 win. In that game, Winston threw two picks to Indianapolis linebacker Darious Leonard — one on the first drive (of course), and one later in the game that was returned 80 yards for a touchdown.

Winston also threw for 400 yards against the Panthers in Week 6. That was a 37-26 loss in which Winston threw an interception on his first pass of the day, and threw four more in the game. making him once again of the most prolific passers in NFL history… if you can stand the bad side.