For all the excitement Jameis Winston brings to the football field, the amount of headaches he induces can be quite distracting.
Against the Texans at home on Saturday afternoon, the polarizing Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback had the type of game fans and pundits have come to both laud and loathe him for: 25-of-48 -- 52.1 completion percentage -- for 335 yards, a touchdown and four interceptions.
His dizzying performance in the eventual 23-20 loss came just a few hours after NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that the Bucs planned to keep Winston as their QB1 in 2020. Efforts like the one from Week 16 -- and many of Winston's other performances this season -- would make such a decision look rather puzzling but the ever-confident fifth-year pro remained true to form post-game when he insisted that the mistakes, however frequent they may be, can still be corrected.
"My primary focus is going into a football game and having a turnover-free football game. That's my primary focus," Winston said, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "When I do that, I'm going to be a good quarterback. A great quarterback."
On the same day that Winston passed Dan Marino for the second most pass yards through their first five seasons in NFL history, he also secured the top spot for most INTs (86) and most games with three-plus INTs (11) since 2015. And, such is the nature of the spectacle that is the "Jameis Experience."
Despite the wild way Winston likes to play the game, his receivers have continued to make plays every week. Both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, Winston's top options, missed Week 16, but that didn't stop him from having his 11th 300-plus passing yard game of the year with the likes of Breshad Perriman, O.J. Howard and Justin Watson on the field.
"We're always going to persevere. That's just those guys in the locker room. They're resilient. They're going to continue to play no matter what. But I can't do that. I can't do it. I can't do it. You can't win that way. Consistently," Winston said.
As the 7-8 Bucs stare down the barrel of yet another losing season, the fourth of Winston's tenure, the enigmatic QB faces the possibility of becoming the first QB to throw for at least 30 TDs and INTs in a single season. A troubling benchmark, to say the least, but one that speaks volumes to the type of fearlessness and resiliency that will likely keep Winston atop the Bucs' depth chart for the foreseeable future.
