If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are able to go into Carolina and come away with a win over the Panthers on Thursday night, they would be accomplishing a very rare feat. To be frank, Jameis Winston probably does not even remember what it feels like to win a game on the road.
Winston enters Thursday’s game having lost 12 straight road starts. His last win on the road came in San Diego, which no longer has an NFL team.
Quick thread here: As Bucs play at Carolina tonight, Jameis Winston is hoping to end a long personal road losing streak. He's lost 12 straight road starts. Bucs are 0-14 in last 14 road games he's played in. It's been so long his last road win was literally in San Diego, 12/4/16.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 12, 2019
While the stat is alarming, it is somewhat deceiving. You could make the case that Winston has played poorly over the past few seasons and needs to do a better job of protecting the football, but his performance on the road hasn’t been much different from at home. Tampa’s defense, however, is another story.
Bucs defense? Huge difference between home and road since start of 2016:
Home: 19.6 points per game allowed
Away: 32.1 points per game allowedDifference is nearly two touchdowns a game
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 12, 2019
Winton has 17 multi-interception games since 2015, which is the most in the NFL during that span. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said Thursday that his team needs to stop turning the ball over, and another ugly Winston stat highlights just how important that is.
#Bucs HC Bruce Arians states the obvious when he says team must stop turning ball over. Jameis Winston’s 17 multi INT games since 2015 are the most in the NFL…The Bucs are 3-14 when Winston throws more than one interception.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) September 12, 2019
Arians has experience working with some of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, and he would not have taken the Bucs job if he didn’t think he could help Winston straighten out his NFL career. The veteran coach was highly critical of some other areas of his team during the preseason, and he can’t like what he saw in Week 1. If Winston could somehow avoid interceptions, it would go a long way toward getting Tampa’s offense turned around.
