Report: Bucs turning back to Winston as starter
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will re-install Jameis Winston as the team's starting quarterback in Week 12 against the San Francisco 49ers, the team confirmed Monday. Head coach Dirk Koetter told reporters earlier Monday that he knew who would be starting, but he declined to announce his choice because he hadn't yet informed the quarterbacks. Winston came on in relief of Ryan Fitzpatrick on Sunday for the second time in seven weeks, after first doing so in a Week 4 blowout loss in Chicago, and Koetter described his play afterward as "fantastic." Winston entered trailing the Giants 24-7 in the third quarter, but he led four consecutive scoring drives to cut the lead to three points on two occasions. He ended the day 12-of-16 passing for 199 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception, which came on a last-ditch effort to rally with 23 seconds left, allowing the Giants to hang on and win 38-35. Fitzpatrick had been pulled after throwing his third interception, this one in the end zone, leaving him 13 of 21 for 167 yards and no touchdowns. Winston, 24, was previously benched midway through a Week 8 loss at Cincinnati after throwing four interceptions. He missed the first three games of the season because of an NFL suspension before entering midway through Week 4 against the Bears. Fitzpatrick, who turns 36 on Saturday, has 2,366 passing yards with 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season. Winston has 1,380 passing yards, eight touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Winston is in the fourth year of his rookie contract since being taken No. 1 overall in 2015. Tampa Bay previously picked up his fifth-year option for 2019, which is guaranteed for injury only. Koetter told reporters last week that he understood the arguments in favor of starting Winston in order to evaluate him over the rest of the season, but argued that the Bucs still had an opportunity to contend in the NFC wild-card race. Sunday's loss dropped Tampa Bay to 3-7, leaving the Bucs 2 1/2 games out of the second wild-card spot and ahead of only two teams in conference. --Field Level Media
