Jameis Winston's infectious positive vibe meets the Bucs' losing ways

TAMPA, Fla. – Jameis Winston stayed up studying until 1 a.m. the night before his first practice in the NFL, then spent two hours going through drills in the Florida heat, then announced, "I'm ready to play games!"

This is the Winston Way, the infectious and not-quite-corny enthusiasm that navigated scandal and silliness over two conference championship seasons at Florida State. He has lost only one game since leaving high school, and he carries himself like more titles await him. In Winston's world, winning is always imminent.

Here, though, the memory of winning is faint. The last playoff victory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in the 2002 Super Bowl, and there have only been two playoff games since. While Winston's football history is only victorious, his new team can be summed up in what head coach Lovie Smith said Friday: "If you look at our record, we're still 2-14."

So this is it, the merging of leaps-and-bounds Jameis and the baby-steps Bucs. The question for this season is whether Winston will be dragged down or whether he'll drag his teammates to higher ground.

He certainly won the first day; there was overflow media parking for practice for the first time since anyone could remember, and the gargantuan Buccaneers flag was raised as if a parade was about to begin. This was nothing like last year, when then-rookie Mike Evans met with a small group of reporters and informed them he threw up before his first practice.

Winston didn't look pristine on Day One. There were a couple of underthrows, a couple of wobblers and one pass that veered way off target. Overall, though, he was sharp and in charge. He was as convincing as a first-day-on-the-job quarterback could be.

That will be a puzzle for everyone to solve: Winston's buoyancy makes it hard to detect any problem. When asked what he needs to work on mechanically, he beamed and said, "Everything!" If he offered a dour version of that word, alarms would go off. But there he was saying how "elated" and "excited" he was, "like a 6-year-old," and all seemed quite well. Teammates have always responded to this, and that continued here with the new ones he's just met. Winston stood outside the Bucs complex on Thursday and greeted every single rookie with a hand slap and a hug as they arrived at their new workplace for the first time. It wouldn't have been completely out-of-character if he put leis around their necks.

"Jameis is Jameis," said rookie offensive lineman Donovan Smith, as if he'd known Winston for 20 years. "He makes light of every situation. He makes you feel comfortable with everything."

As Smith said this, Winston was about 30 feet away, hugging new teammate Ali Marpet and grinning at Smith. The three of them, basically still strangers, looked downright merry.

Even in his media session, Winston has the same seamless manner with every question: make eye contact, grin through an answer that includes a peppy adjective or three, then make eye contact during the end of the thought. He told a TV reporter he was a "brainiac" when it came to the playbook, which didn't make complete sense but sounded good. Another question about his studying elicited this response: "I gotta do what I gotta do when I gotta do it!"

Even when he was asked about Jaguars' No. 1 pick Dante Fowler's injury, which he had absolutely no way of knowing about, he gave a look of deep concern, thought for a moment and then insisted that Fowler – who is out for the year – will bounce back and he will be praying. Winston's optimism is borderline Tebowish.

It's sorely needed. The Bucs have either been boring or just plain bad for a while. The team has been painful to watch and this fan base isn't exactly Buffalo in its spirit. Coach Smith isn't exactly a jolt of adrenaline, either; when Winston was finished with his news conference, the reporters started to walk away even before the head coach arrived.

"When Jameis leaves," Lovie Smith quipped, "everybody turns their back."

So at the absolute minimum, Winston will win the news conference. He has already made the Bucs relevant, at least for a day, and there will be buzz for Week One when Marcus Mariota and the Titans arrive at "Raymond Jameis" to face the Bucs.

In the meantime, Winston will talk a good game and, if he stays out of trouble, will ramp up enthusiasm even if everyone around here knows the Bucs are "still 2-14." The first thing he said to reporters after practice Friday (besides "Good Afternoon") was "Great to be a Buc, man." And at least for one semi-meaningless day in May, it was true.