In Week 13's edition of Monday Night Football, Jameis Winston turned in an incredible* performance.
- minus throwing three interceptions, including two pick-6s.
That's right, in a game that almost wholly encapsulates the “Famous Jameis” experience, Winston came just three yards short of 500 passing yards, tacking on four aerial touchdowns to that mark after his running game failed to get much going, only to quite literally throw away any chance of securing the win with two picks – one of them a pick-6 – on the Browns' final drives of regulation.
Down two with a little under three minutes left to play, Winston drove the ball down the field in pursuit of a field goal, but Jaquan McMillian made a magical pick that he ran to the house after never actually drawing contact, and Winston again coughed it up on the very next drive, once the final outcome of the game was more or less decided.
How does one really quantify such a strange game? Does a head coach celebrate that his quarterback threw for nearly 500 yards but saw his pursuit of a win stifled by a defensive back making a great play on a relatively normal passing attempt? Or do you take issue with a quarterback costing you a game that they likely wouldn't have been in in the first place without him?
Well, Kevin Stefanski was asked that very question on Tuesday and broke down what he felt was a mixed bag from his starting quarterback on Monday Night Football.
“Well, we threw the ball a lot, so there were a lot of opportunities and obviously extremely productive in the past game with a ton of yards. Certainly, he wants to take care of the football in those moments. You’re not going to play perfect at the quarterback position, he knows that, I know that. Ultimately, he wants to do anything in his power to help this team win, and that’s going to be taking care of the ball. But he also had moments there where he was moving that offense and did a nice job.”
Okay, but what did Stefanski think of the individual picks by Winston and how they impacted the final outcome? Well, he touched on that, too, and delivered some very interesting insight into what the Browns want from their starting quarterback.
Kevin Stefanski hopes Jameis Winston will continue to grow
Hammering down on the specific interceptions Winston threw in Week 13, Stefanski broke down which balls were on Winston and which balls weren't, noting that, in the end, his quarterback needs to keep growing to learn the best times and places to take his shots.
“It’s something we talk about in the quarterback room that not all interceptions are created equal. And think of a tip ball, that’s way different than throwing it right to the defense. So, I think that we had some miscommunication on the first one. The second one, I think just was not a great throw by Jameis. He wanted that ball more outside. And like I talked about before, he’s not going to be perfect; you’re going to miss throws. That’s part of playing this position,” Stefanski told reporters. “You need to learn from each one of those. So, as a quarterback, learning from each one of these reps is so important, but I don’t want our quarterbacks to play a style where they’re so careful, and they’re not, they’re ultra-conservative, they’re not going to throw the ball down the field. That’s just not a recipe for moving the ball, either. So, he’ll continue to learn from these and learn from each one of these and try to get better.”
Over Winston's career, arm talent and throw velocity were never really issues, but instead, his decision-making, with the FSU passer throwing nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns over his expansive NFL career. If the Browns had a full season to play with, maybe this gunslinger mentality wouldn't be as big of an issue, but with a massive hole dug by Deshaun Watson's regime, Cleveland really can't afford less than safe play from their quarterback.
