TAMPA — There's an axiom in the NFL that if you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. But in this rarest of seasons, the Buccaneers need a triple option behind center.

With Jameis Winston suspended, 35-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick will have to play winning football against the Saints-Eagles-Steelers gauntlet the Bucs open against.

That puts Ryan Griffin one snap away from his first regular-season snap.

It's an interesting group. A backup with 119 NFL starts and nearly 27,000 yards passing. A starter who will likely pass Vinny Testaverde as the Bucs' career passing yards leader this season. A third-stringer who would enter his fifth NFL season having never played.

Since the Bucs won the Super Bowl in the 2002 season, has the quarterback position been better armed in Tampa Bay?

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In that championship season, Bucs starter Brad Johnson was backed up by former Bills starter Rob Johnson and Shaun King, who went 15-8 in his Bucs career.

Brian Griese backed up Jeff Garcia in 2008. Going back to 1990, the Bucs traded a first-round pick to the Colts for Chris Chandler to compete with Testaverde. When Testaverde was drafted No. 1 overall in 1987, he had veteran Steve DeBerg in his corner.

In Thursday night's 26-24 preseason win at Miami, Fitzpatrick, Winston and Griffin combined to complete 37-of-47 passes for 336 yards and a touchdown for a 103.5 passer rating.

Both Fitzpatrick and Winston led touchdown drives on their first tries Thursday. Griffin capped it off by taking the Bucs on a 67-yard drive to set up Chandler Catanzaro's game-winning 26-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining.

Fitzpatrick is playing for his seventh NFL team. That's a lot of systems and terminology to apply, but he said Thursday he's more comfortable than he was a year ago in the Bucs offense.

"I can relate one offense to another and there are certain things from everywhere I've been to each offense,'' Fitzpatrick said. "But just in terms of the command of the offense, I feel a lot more comfortable this year from last season.''

Koetter said Fitzpatrick demonstrated his command early Thursday with a hand signal to Chris Godwin during a no-huddle offense. Godwin nearly made a spectacular catch.

"I believe in The Beard," Tom Jones writes. "I mean, I don't know that I want to play 16 games with Fitz-Magic, but maybe the Bucs won't be in total trouble while Jameis is off in timeout." #Bucs #Buccaneers #TBvsMIA @TB_Times @TomWJones @mjfennelly https://t.co/y5iT5pQmjl — TampaBayTimesSports (@TBTimes_Sports) August 10, 2018

"Fitz saw the defense wasn't lined up so he signaled Godwin a different route and I didn't even see it," Koetter said. "It was right before the snap. So there's an example of Ryan taking advantage of his experience. But to take advantage of your experience, you have to know the system to know how to do it.''

For Winston, its was more of the unknown. Coming off the bench for the first time as a Buc, playing with a lot of second- and third-team receivers and tight ends. He went 11-of-13 passing for 102 yards.

"I was happy to play football,'' Winston said. "Like I said, it was a privilege. I've been working with everybody this training camp so that prepared me."

Griffin has become Mr. August. He may have won the No. 2 job over Fitzpatrick a year ago but suffered a shoulder sprain on a blindside hit in the preseason opener at Cincinnati. He played Thursday with relatively unknown receivers like Ervin Phillips, Dare Ogunbowale and Sergio Bailey, who had two catches on the final drive, Ervin Phillips and Dare Ogunbowale.

"It was fun,'' Griffin said. "That's why you play football. It was a lot of fun. Just being in there with those guys and those are the guys you get reps with in practice.''

Ryan Griffin stole the show, completing 20 of 26 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown while leading the Bucs to Chandler Catanzaro's game-winning field goal. #Bucs #Buccaneers #TBvsMIA @TB_Times @NFLSTROUD https://t.co/PIhhysmQGO — TampaBayTimesSports (@TBTimes_Sports) August 10, 2018

Many NFL teams don't carry three quarterbacks. But the Bucs enter the season knowing it will take a village.

Each quarterback is highly motivated. Fitzpatrick is getting a rare chance to take the No. 1 reps in training camp. Winston is fighting for his NFL career. And Griffin?

"I've been telling you guys, I'm a Ryan Griffin fan. Five years and two good systems," Koetter said, referring to Griffin's seasons in Tampa Bay and New Orleans, "he just needs playing time and he obviously showed what we think he can do. He's got a stronger arm than you think he does and he's very accurate. A touch passer. He got the ball out of this hands. For the most part, he made really good decisions with the ball. He wasn't perfect.''

YAC IT UP: WR Mike Evans has said he needs to work on gaining more yards after the catch. But his biggest problem is his puzzling habit of looking for grass to fall on after making a catch near the middle of the field.

It happened again Thursday. Evans caught a quick slant on the Bucs' first possession and went to the ground for a 14-yard gain — and room to run.

At 6-5, 230 pounds, Evans is a big target for safeties and linebackers to zero in on. It's understandable why he wants to protect his body and the football. But at some point, Evans will have to make the conscious decision to lower his shoulder and apply the pressure on the defense, rather than succumb to it.

"Mike is looking to improve in his RAC and that was a good example of it,'' Koetter said. "I thought Cam had one going the other direction. It's something where those guys are wanting to secure the catch. They want to run after it but they also know that safety is bearing down on them. It's a work in progress. Both guys have been working hard on it.''

Early in last night's game, #Bucs receiver Mike Evans went to the ground after a 14-yard catch. Missed opportunity for YAC. “If I could do that, I’d be the most complete receiver in the game,” he told me during OTAs. https://t.co/yUwZr3bPHv — Thomas Bassinger (@tometrics) August 10, 2018

Contact Rick Stroud at stroudbucs@aol.com. Follow @NFLStroud