What We’re Watching: Jameis Winston vs. Bengals

The storyline that is Jameis Winston grows larger by the day. For us, we can’t ask for much more than what he’s provided for us over the years.

Countless storylines at Florida State, a number one overall NFL Draft pick and now pre-season play in the NFL where everyone under the sun wants to jump to conclusions.

After one game.

Luckily for us sane fans (yes, we do exist), looking ahead to this week vs. the Bengals is relatively easy after watching last week’s tape.

Here are the three things to watch in Winston’s game on Monday night (ESPN broadcast).

Improved Decision Making

From what we saw last Saturday, Winston still has tremendous room for improvement as far as his decision-making skills are concerned. Too many times, we saw forced throws into coverage that turn into interceptions at the NFL level.

At FSU, Winston got away with tight-window forces due to his arm, the threats he had to toss to and quite simply the overall level of play when it came to ACC defenders.

At this level, everyone he faces is an NFL standout.

It’s a natural progression that every rookie QB must encounter to thrive on the big stage. Winston should get there, but if Tampa Bay fans want to see results immediately, it’ll be a great sign if they see fewer passes in double/triple coverage and more structured, basic throws on Monday night.

Continued Command

A major plus in Winston’s first outing came at the line of scrimmage, where he looked very comfortable taking the reins of an NFL offense.

While he went just 9-19 with an INT against Minnesota, Winston kept a cool and collected presence as he approached the line for pre-snap reads. It wasn’t a complex gameplan for the first pre-season outing of the season, but getting his feet wet looking across at NFL defenders was a nice touch in his debut.

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On Monday, look for the 21-year-old to change a play or two at the line. His intelligence will take care of the original adjustment — it’s the execution that has to be ironed out.

Awareness of the Opponent

This one is as much on OC Dirk Koetter as it is Winston. Nonetheless, both have to understand who they’ll be going up against.

For the first few drives, the Bengals defense will be the best unit Winston has ever played against in his life. While he’s seen talent, he’s never seen starting NFL top-tier talent like the Cincinnati group.

What you’d like to see here goes hand-in-hand with the previous point: a calm mindset and smart decisions.

We shouldn’t expect Winston to light it up at all on Monday night. Realistically, a couple of drives with multiple first-downs will be a strong success for the first-year signal caller. It’s all about minimizing mistakes and being able to understand the strength of who he’ll be facing.

The task will be tough, but Winston has all the tools to keep balanced and put together a decent performance.

At this point in the year, that’s all he needs to do.