Jameis Winston took the field for the first since being drafted number 1 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past April. Although this was only a preseason game the Buccaneers played the majority of their first string starters for the first half. In this breakdown, we will take a look at how Winston performed versus the Vikings and take a look at some of passes to see how he did and what he needs to improve on.

Before I begin, here are three other film breakdowns I did before the NFL season started:

Stats

Jameis Winston – 9/19 (47.4%), 131 yards, 6.9 ypa, 1 INT, 4 rushes for 18 yards, 1 rushing TD

The Buccaneers started the game with four runs to Doug Martin picking up a first down and then eventually leaving Jameis Winston with a 3rd and 4 on his own 24 yard line.

Play 1 – In this first play, Winston is in shotgun double slot while the Vikings showing blitz with seven men in the box with a deep safety over the top in Cover 1. After Winston takes the snap two of of the men on the defenders on the line of scrimmage bail back into their zones over the middle while FS22 Harrison Smith drops to cover the tight end in man-to-man coverage. Winston first finds the safety, then looks at the route combination on the right side of the field with TE87 Seferian-Jenkins and WR83 Jackson. From the slot, TE87 Seferian-Jenkins runs a hitch-route to the 30 yard line, while WR83 Jackson runs a slant-route behind him. Winston fires the ball to Seferian-Jenkins but the ball is outside and over the head of his intended target. On the other side of the field, the slot receiver is running a quick-out while the outside left receiver is running a stop route.

Let’s take a step back to the pre-snap read knowing the route combinations. Winston looks at the defense and sees a deep safety with seven men on the line of scrimmage where all are pretending to blitz. By the simple numbers game, Winston has four receivers to the three men in direct man-to-man coverage with a safety over the top. Realistically, no defense is going to give a tight end in the slot a free release or an uncovered route, so either one man on the line of scrimmage is going to bail from his spot to cover TE87 Seferian-Jenkins or they will drop multiple men in underneath zone coverage. The Vikings choose a combination: They drop two linebackers into middle zones over the middle and put FS22 Harrison Smith on TE87 Seferian-Jenkins.

In my opinion, Winston read this as three underneath zones, possibly four if they dropped another linebacker out of pass rush, so he could use his first target’s hitch route (TE87 Seferian-Jenkins) as a spot route between zones. After the snap, however, the Vikings don’t do this like we said above. Instead they put FS22 Smith on TE87 Seferian-Jenkins in man-to-man coverage so therefore Winston needs to move on from this initial read as it’s covered.

With an underneath hitch route to the first down marker and a slant route over the top of it, this is what’s referred to as the “Levels” concept. A concept Florida State used quite frequently actually back when Winston was still the quarterback in 2014. Typically in a levels concept you read it high, then low, but since Winston reads the pre-snap coverage differently he starts with the low read. Since TE87 Seferian-Jenkins is covered Winston needs to move on to his next read which would have been the slant-route of WR83 Jackson behind the hitch. This is covered by the inside linebackers in zone coverage and probably would have been an interception if he threw it here. Since WR83 Jackson is covered, Winston would then go to his final read, the checkdown runningback from the backfield sitting at the 25 yard line. Maybe this gets a first down. Maybe it doesn’t.

Now unless I was confident the Vikings were rushing seven or they were playing in zone coverage over the middle I would have considered throwing to the man-to-man coverage on the left side of the field. The quick-out was open, and based on simple numbers you know the men are in man-to-man coverage and this route combination (out and spot) is designed to release the slot receiver by the sideline.

Winston needs move on from his pre-snap read and then move on to his next read here due to the changes in the defense post-snap. Some might argue that TE87 Seferian-Jenkins was running an option route where it’s either a hitch route with the option to run a stick-route to the outside. It’s possible without seeing the playbook, but in my opinion it’s not very likely as the design of this play on the right side of the field is to separate the inside linebackers or to attack zone coverage over the middle after showing blitzes by the Vikings. Plus Winston’s throw was still WAY too high as Seferian-Jenkins would have been on the same plane as the 30 yard line.

Throughout the rest of the day, Winston was inconsistent with his accuracy like in these few plays.

Play 2 – In this play, the ball is high and behind the target leading to a long 3rd down. The one positive takeaway with this play is the amount of anticipation Jameis Winston is attempting to throw on this pass. MANY quarterbacks in their first year don’t have any idea how to throw with anticipation or on timing-routes and Winston is already attempting these passes in the first preseason game.

Play 3 – This is a great example of Winston’s impressive pcoket awareness. As soon as the ball is snapped the pocket starts collapsing. Winston feels the pressure and escapes to the outside picking up 5 yards on the broken play.

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