Long before the Buccaneers picked Jameis Winston first and the Titans took Marcus Mariota second, we knew that Mariota was the careful one with the ball.
And while the Titans rookie hasn’t thrown an interception yet in camp, Winston is having a bumpier ride.
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Winston threw three interceptions during his first five passes of a live blitz period.
As you might imagine, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith was quick to praise his defense for making three plays, while tempering expectations for the No. 1 overall pick.
“Our goal is to get Jameis ready,” Smith said. “We’re doing a lot of things that we normally don’t do this early, too, to try and give him as many looks as we possibly can. And it was the one blitz period is where he had his most trouble and that’s how it should be for a young quarterback.
“We’re not inventing defense or anything like that with what we’re doing on the other side. Jameis will tell you on some of those plays he just can’t make, but it’s part of the process of becoming a good quarterback in the league to go through some days like this. Keep in mind there are some scholarship players on the other side that we feel pretty good about. With my glass being half full, I’m pretty fired up about those takeaways we got on the defensive side.”
The reviews on Winston have been generally positive through camp, and the Bucs have already named him their starter (such that that was a mystery).
But his willingness to take chances for the shot at making a play downfield is something that was evident from his days at Florida State — he had 18 interceptions last year, whereas Mariota had four playing in a different offense.
But unless the Buccaneers are going to be able to create turnovers at that kind of rate against every opponent, Winston is going to have to learn and learn quickly.