It could not have gone any worse for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London.
From the moment the Bucs elected to receive the kick and then the Jameis Winston interception on the first play of the game, you just had a feeling it would be one of those days for the Buccaneers.
The offensive line play was horrendous and the defensive backs continued to play uninspiring football. For the second time in four weeks, the Bucs lost to a rookie quarterback quarterback who was making just his fourth career NFL start.
Winston had one of his worst games of his career as his decision making was horrible. All the progress that he made the first five weeks of the season, seemed to be lost on a chilly afternoon in London.
Although Winston passed for 400 yards, he put the ball up 54 times and was picked off five times while throwing just one touchdown pass. This was Winstons worst game since week eight at Cincinnati last year.
Winston had six turnovers in the game, two fumbles and four interceptions while under pressure a majority of the afternoon behind a makeshift offensive line on the right side.
Since entering the league in 2015, Winston has had five games of four or more turnovers. The most any other quarterback has had in that stretch is two.
Ex-Buccaneer Gerald McCoy came into the game with no sacks, had his first 2.5 sacks of the season against his former team.
Panther defensive back and long time thorn in the side of Mike Evans, James Bradberry had two picks, and linebacker Luke Kuechly had one thrown right to him which he returned to the five yard line.
Mike Evans finished with nine catches for 96 yards, but after the game said he played like crap. “ It’s tough. I felt like we were better than that team. We had the turnovers. We didn’t execute as well as we should have and I played like (crap).“
An honest assessment from one of the leaders on this Buccaneer team.
The defense again let another rookie, look like the second coming of Peyton Manning as Kyle Allen sliced and diced the Bucs secondary completing 20/32 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bucs put up 407 yards of offense while limiting the Panthers to 268 yards, but it was the turnovers that consistently put the Panthers on a short field and they were able to take advantage of those turnovers and get points on the board.
The Bucs also allowed the Panthers to go 99 yards in the second quarter to score a touchdown which put the Panthers up 17-7 just before halftime.
OJ Howard continues to struggle in this offense as he had just two catches for 35 yards. As the season goes on, it appears that Byron Leftwich and the offensive staff have no idea on how to get OJ Howard more involved in this offense.
The Bucs have their bye week next week before making a trip to Nashville to take on the Titans another team that is underachieving so far this season.
Jameis Winston had this to say about the whole London experience, “It was an amazing atmosphere. But home game, away game, London game, you have to protect the football. This was not a good day. But there will be better days.”
As the clock continues to run on the career of Jameis Winston in Tampa, its beginning to look more and more like those better days for Jameis Winston will be somewhere else in 2020.
