Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston is clearly relieved to see Bruce Arians walk in the door.
Not only has Arians helped all the quarterbacks he’s been around, but he’s also removed the week-to-week doubt about who is starting, making it clear that the team belongs to Winston.
That’s good news to Winston, after a season he best described as “odd.”
“I really just have to get back to playing Jameis Winston football, man,” Winston said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “That season, it was a very odd season. I really wish I could’ve been in the locker room the first three weeks with the team because we started off so fast and to miss those opportunities to be in the locker room with your family and experience that, you know, that momentum that we had, it’s a loss. It’s really a loss.
“So that kind of made the year very odd. The back and forth with the quarterback situation made the year even odder. Getting benched, it was an odd year. The good thing about that is it’s over. I can build off that and head into this New Year with a fresh start and definitely hopes for better results this season.”
Of course, it was Winston’s own fault it started strangely, as his suspension for his incident with a female Uber driver led to his first absence. His turnovers led to the second one, but he was much better late in the year, with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions and a 97.7 passer rating over the last six games.
Now he has to carry that over with a new coach.
“Just like myself, we’re all excited to have B.A. and we know he’s going to bring a lot of great things to the team along with his coaching staff,” Winston said. “But as players, we got to go out there and play our best football.
“We definitely have the pieces to win. You saw that when the two teams we beat [the Saints and Eagles] were playing each other in the playoffs [Sunday] night. We definitely got the pieces to win here and we will win.”
If they do it will be historic, since the Buccaneers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2007, when Winston was in middle school.