Advertisement

Jones: Grandma gives Bucs' Jameis Winston a boost

 
Jameis Winston celebrates his 1-yard touchdown run. [JIM DAMASKE | Times]
Jameis Winston celebrates his 1-yard touchdown run. [JIM DAMASKE | Times]
Published Sept. 21, 2015

NEW ORLEANS

Last Monday was a pretty crummy day for Jameis Winston.

The day before, the Bucs rookie quarterback stumbled and bumbled his way through a horror show of an NFL debut as he and his Bucs teammates were annihilated by the Titans and their rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota.

As the haters, second-guessers and Monday morning quarterbacks kicked him around, Winston did what any good kid would do. He picked himself up. He worked especially hard. And he called grandma.

"It was my birthday," Winston's grandmother, Myrtle Winston, said.

On Sunday, with Myrtle in attendance, Winston gave her and Tampa Bay a much-needed present: a victory, his first as a professional as the Bucs pulled off a big upset in the Big Easy with a 26-19 victory over the Saints.

Hey, Tampa Bay. You might have yourself a quarterback. A poised Winston completed 14 of 21 passes for 207 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions and an impressive 114.6 QB rating.

It helped that the Bucs rushed for 139 yards. It helped that six different targets chipped in with catches. And maybe an assist should go to grandma.

Myrtle made the four-and-a-half-hour drive to New Orleans from Bessemer, Ala., to watch her grandson in person.

"It was amazing to see her out there," Winston said. "To see her on the sidelines before the game, I was pumped up."

The Florida State team chaplain told Winston, "Your grandma is not here just to see you play football. She's here because you're her grandson."

Nevertheless, Winston played some pretty good football, especially after last week's smelly mess.

"Normally, the biggest improvement that I've seen is from week one to week two," Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. "We saw a lot of improvement from Jameis and everybody. … Jameis was in control throughout. That is a good comeback effort by a rookie quarterback."

If you want to nitpick, you can find a couple of overthrows, but all in all, in a battle between Winston and future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, Winston was the better quarterback. In the critical moments of the game Sunday, he was everything that he wasn't last week.

He was cool and calm, composed and controlled as he engineered scoring drives on the Bucs' last possessions of the first and second half, as well as a key scoring drive to open the third quarter.

On those three "clutch-time" drives, Winston was 5-of-7 for 76 yards, and that doesn't include what would have been a 41-yard touchdown pass had a Saints defensive back not been forced to take an interference penalty.

When he wasn't making big plays with his arm, Winston was making crucial plays with his legs, rushing for a score and a couple of critical first downs. He didn't try to do too much, but he did a heck of a lot.

"I just want to go out there and do my job and be a game manager," Winston said. "Who knows what my future holds, but I just want to be a game manager now and put my team in the best possible situation I can to win."

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

None of it surprised Myrtle, who used to take little Jameis to her secretary job at the only hospital in Bessemer because everyone at work liked him so much.

"Everybody likes him; he's awesome," she said. "(And) he has always had confidence. Whatever he says, he does."

Like the time when Winston was in high school, visiting colleges and deciding where to attend. At one school, Winston saw the Heisman Trophy.

Myrtle remembered the story: "He said, 'Grandma, look at this. I bet you when I go to college, I'm going to win this.' And I said, 'No, child, you're not going to win nothing like that.' But first year in college, he won the Heisman."

And now he is trying to prove all the naysayers, critics and doubters wrong in trying to lead the Bucs back to respectability. That's why Sunday was so important. He needed it for his confidence, for the team's confidence, especially after the Tennessee game.

"Winning is contagious," Winston said, "and I don't think people realize how hard winning is in this league."

Sunday certainly wasn't easy. The Bucs had to survive a last-minute comeback attempt by Brees. Even Winston couldn't help but watch in awe as Brees moved his team into scoring position before a last-play heave into the end zone fell incomplete.

"We're playing against Drew Brees!" Winston told his teammates. When they told him to back up, Winston said, "I'm sorry. This is amazing."

After the game, Winston shook Brees' hand, but he hardly remembers what was said. "I was kind of shell-shocked," Winston said.

Then it was off to find grandma. By the way, the first big purchase Winston made when he signed his NFL contract? A $4,000 lift chair for Myrtle.

"When you get old, I will let you use it," Myrtle said. "It's nice."

On Sunday, she had the best seat in the house to watch what she calls the "love of her life."

With more performances like Sunday's, a whole lot of folks in Tampa Bay will fall in love with Winston, too. That's a pretty good feeling for a Monday.