Jameis Winston threw 30 interceptions in 2019, but a lot of them were on the receivers.
Quarterbacks who throw for 33 touchdowns and 5,000 yards do not typically have a difficult time finding a job in the NFL. But those quarterbacks do not typically throw 30 interceptions in a single season, so free agent Jameis Winston finds himself in a unique situation.
Winston is clearly talented, and Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians says his former quarterback is one of the hardest workers he’s ever been around. This week, the 26-year-old got another endorsement from Tampa Bay when WR Chris Godwin told The Boardroom that “half” of Winston’s 30 interceptions were due to mistakes by receivers.
Via The Tampa Bay Times:
“I definitely think he got more of the blame than he deserved,” Godwin added. “I think he’s a really, really talented quarterback. Obviously there are things that he does that you can’t teach. And there are plays that he made that just weren’t smart plays. But a lot of the mistakes and interceptions that he made, I would say half of them were because of a bad read on someone else’s part. … The great thing about him is he’s not going to go out there and throw anybody under the bus. He’s going to own up to it, he’s going to take it, and he’s going to be a leader. And there’s respect to that.”
I don’t know how accurate that number is, but we can find some obvious examples, including one that Godwin took responsibility in a postgame interview. This comes from a midseason loss in Tennessee. It’s second-and-13 and the Bucs are running their HOSS concept, which features two seam routes by the inside receivers and stop routes by the outside receivers.
The Titans align in a two-high safety look pre-snap but rotate to a three-deep zone behind a five-man pressure. Godwin and Cameron Brate are supposed to convert their seam routes into stop routes against two-deep looks. Godwin doesn’t see the coverage rotation after the snap and runs the stop, which leads to an interception.
Brate makes the proper read, Winston makes the proper read but Godwin does not. It looks like another poor decision and throw by the quarterback, but it’s really on the receiver.
Here’s another miscommunication that leads to a pick-6. Winston expects his receiver (in this case, it’s a running back) to run a quick out route. He runs a hitch instead, and Richard Sherman nabs one of the easier interceptions of his career.
Arians’ offense features a lot of concepts that require the receiver and quarterback to be on the same page. That can be hard to nail down in Year 1, and, as a result, Arians’ quarterbacks tend to throw a bunch of picks in that first season in the offense.
In December, I wrote a stat-driven explaining why Winston’s interception total should regress in future seasons. Arians’ offense was not one of the reasons included but it probably should have been. Winston will always throw interceptions. He’s just that kind of quarterback. But if he can just cut his interception total in half, Winston could be one of the better starters in the NFL. Getting out of Arians’ offense might help him do that.
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