Jameis Winston Is not the answer at QB for the Bucs

Ryan Fitzpatrick came into the game in the third quarter of the game, he hit Mike Evans for a 72-yard touchdown pass, his fifth passing touchdown of 50 or more yards this season. But despite erasing an 18-point deficit to tie the game at 34 points, the Fitzmagic was not quite enough and the Bengals escaped with the win on a last-second field goal.

After the game, Winston told reporters he is determined to fix his turnover, but it finally seems like he's out of time. The 24-year-old QB has had three signs of real progress. Winston has thrown at least two interceptions in his life, and he has been suspended for the first three games of the season (10). In 49 games in his NFL career, Winston has thrown 54 interceptions.

"Two of the four balls were just overthrown," Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter said after the game.

The Bucs offense thrived under backup QB Ryan Fitzpatrick for the first three games of the season when Winston was suspended, but since Winston took over the starting job again (during a particularly rough game for Fitzpatrick against the Bears), the Tampa Bay offense has slowed . This morning, reports said that DeSean Jackson, one of the Bucs' best offensive weapons, wants out of Tampa Bay-NFL Network's Ian Rapaport reported on Sunday that Bucs receiver DeSean Jackson asked for a better job . Jackson did not clicked with Winston the way he did with Fitzpatrick at the start of the season.

Koetter's job is on the line after the playoffs in his first two seasons in the Bucs' head coach, and the decision to bench Winston was made with that reality in mind. Koetter can not risk tying his fate to the Tampa Bay coach to a quarterback as inconsistent as Winston.

Tampa Bay still has nine games to play in this season, which is plenty of time for Fitzpatrick to top Winston's four-game interception, and it would not be all that surprising if he did not. Fitzpatrick has two career four-interception games, a five-interception game and a six-interception game. Koetter said after the game that he was not ready to determine his starting point. The Bucs may still come back to Winston at some point in this season, but Sunday's game feels like a shift in Winston's long-term standing in Tampa Bay. Winston's bad decisions on the subject have reached a breaking point. He is not the Bucs answer at quarterback. Fitzpatrick is not that long-term solution, but it gives the Bucs' offense that Winston does not have a better chance to win.

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