Jameis Red Zone Failures And Mystery
June 4th, 2018
An extreme mystery of the 2017 season lies in one stat. When in the red zone, Jameis Winston attempted just one pass all year to DeSean Jackson. One!
But it was a very different story when Ryan Fitzpatrick was on the field.
Fitz managed to throw Jackson’s way in the red zone six times. Jackson returned the favor with four receptions and two touchdowns.
Please don’t tell Joe this was just a coincidence.
After an offseason of intense study, offensive coordinator Todd Monken calmly said twice that the Bucs’ red zone failures last season happened because “we chose to suck.“
Now at the same time, Dirk Koetter has said repeatedly that DeSean Jackson did his job last season and was open but the Bucs didn’t get him the ball. Presumably, that included Jameis finding Jackson in the red zone.
When it comes to completion percentage, Jameis has been one of the worst NFL starting QBs in the red zone through his three-year career. That includes last season when he had a plethora of weapons. Heck, Marcus Mariota and Blake Bortles have been much better than Jameis in the red zone over the past three years.
Fixing red zone effectiveness remains a Bucs key to 2018. A better running game should help, but Jameis is ultimately the guy in the spotlight here. He simply has to get better.
June 4th, 2018 at 8:08 am
Mystery
or
Denial
June 4th, 2018 at 8:10 am
Told ya.
June 4th, 2018 at 8:27 am
Tell me something I didn’t already know.
June 4th, 2018 at 8:43 am
Joe, have you gone mad or have you only removed your garnet and gold glasses? Blake Bortles AND Mariota were better in an area, ANY area, than Jameis? You know Jameis was the only QB to fumble 3000 times in each of his first three seasons as a pro yada, yada, yada. He is on pace to blah, blah, blah…….
Well clearly D-Jax wasn’t giving max effort near the end zone…just a decoy, yah, his fault.
Maybe, just maybe our Stanford-accepted QB can recognize a play and release the ball faster or perhaps not stare down ME13, even when triple covered.
On second thought, our D-linemen weren’t generating enough of a pass-rush!
June 4th, 2018 at 8:54 am
@Joe … “When it comes to completion percentage, Jameis has been one of the worst NFL starting QBs in the red zone through his three-year career.”
Hilarious Joe. You have a special way of praising Jameis over & over as ‘America’s QB’ … then throwing him under the bus when things get slow. Please understand that it’s never slow at JoeBucsFan.com, not in mentality or reality.–Joe Nah, forget the bus. Make that under the road-grader. After all, POINTS SCORED are the name of the game when all is said & done.
June 4th, 2018 at 8:58 am
If that’s a mystery to you, then maybe you’re in the wrong business.
June 4th, 2018 at 9:01 am
Jameis is excellent at throwing to a point i.e. on a straight line, but not so good at throwing with “touch” or to a moving target, especially if that target is moving directly away from him. IMHO, Jameis is an excellent “pitcher”, but not such a good “quarterback”. Also, after three years in the league, he still absolutely locks in on one receiver, and simply does not see the rest.
tickrdr
June 4th, 2018 at 9:02 am
It’s not a mystery the o line sucked last year..but hopefully a beefed up o line does the trick
June 4th, 2018 at 9:05 am
The red zone compresses the field, requires better decision making and accurate passing. I think for the most part, Winston knows where to attack coverages however his ball placement avg at best, he tends to force the ball into bad situations, as well as his wind up is a tad slow allowing windows to quickly close.
I’ve said this many times…..you can win with Winston. But he needs a lot of talent around him.
June 4th, 2018 at 9:10 am
Has anyone ever heard the rap song ROLL OUT!!! Give his receiver’s more options and he’s great at putting the ball on the money on the run or he can just run it in himself. He’s not afraid to, not bad at it, and knows when to slide or go outta bounds.
June 4th, 2018 at 9:16 am
Jenna Laine pointed this out last week, that Jameis is targeting Evans and they’re not scoring. The opposing defense knows where he’s likely to throw the ball…
June 4th, 2018 at 9:24 am
Lets think about this for a minute folks. Jacksonville has the #1 rushing attack in the NFL last year. So I wonder if the defense is worried about the running game in the red zone and maybe leaving passing lanes open? Tennessee had the #15 rushing attack in the NFL last year so I wondered if the d is worried about that beast Derrick Henry pounding the ball in on them opening up passing lanes. Then that brings us to our Bucs who were #27 in rushing last year. I mean just think about the fear that Doug Martin put into the defense with his hopping around and bouncing outside for no apparent reason. I mean they were so worried about that run I am sure the Linebackers never got a good drop into those zones and made throws much more difficult.
See articles like this and comments like the above make me wonder do any of you people actually watch the games or do you just seriously just look at stats to determine who is good or not. If you cant run the ball AT ALL then the other team knows whats coming, and if they know whats coming it is easier to stop it is not rocket science folks but yeah when are running 3 man routes and they have 7 in coverage every play because they know we cant run the ball I am sure that has nothing to do with it. SMH
June 4th, 2018 at 9:40 am
Maybe Jameis didn’t appreciate DJax’s attitude and ‘me me me’ personality…
Maybe Jameis played favorites with Evans, and Humphrey and grate…
While Fitzpatrick, who contemplated retirement was ready to sling it to anyone open to have a little fun…
June 4th, 2018 at 9:42 am
DJAX is the absolute worst choice as red zone receiver
with the small short field DJAX is the worst choice. DJAX is 5’10 185lbs
WHY HIM? WHICH SMALL RECIEVER IS A REDZONE TD SPECIALIST?
DJAX WAS NEVER GOOD IN THE REDZONE . DJAX is small and is not physical
OJ & Godwin has the skillset to excel and create mismatches in the redzone
Klueless is Pathetic
“The Klueless Koetter Koolaid is flowing at JBF!”
Kobe Faker
June 4th, 2018 at 9:51 am
@ Defense
Its a tale of two Joe’s. with differing opinions on Jameis, IMO. That said
Jameis needs to be patient in the red zone to give other receivers time to get
open. I sometimes wonder if Jameis decides on his intended target before the
play even starts., ie Evans or Brate,
June 4th, 2018 at 10:02 am
Enough excuses for Winston with so many top tier receivers on the team . Lets hope he has more accuracy and better touch this year . How many games did the back up qb win compared to Winston..???
June 4th, 2018 at 10:10 am
Dear jameis
Please leave this idiot market as soon as you can. They do not deserve you.
June 4th, 2018 at 10:23 am
How dare you Joe! You KNOW that Jameis inconsistencies in the red zone are a direct result of the defense’s inability to hold a lead in the 4th quarter!!!
June 4th, 2018 at 10:25 am
ndog
Spot on. When I said roll out before I meant from the PA on second or third down. I’m so excited to see what RoJo looks like inside the 20.
June 4th, 2018 at 10:30 am
ben Says:
June 4th, 2018 at 10:02 am
How many games did the back up qb win compared to Winston..???
Are you for real ben? Man you make this too easy.
Lets see in the Jets game Fitz threw for a whopping 187 yards with 1 TD and 1 pick. Our defense, playing against the immortal Josh McCown, forced two turnovers and we won by scoring just 15 points at home vs the Jets.
Against the Dolphins the next week our defense forced 5 turnovers and even scored a TD, while our offense, despite getting the ball given to them multiple times in the redzone, settled for having to attempt 4 FG’s, which we happen to make 3.
So you giving credit to the QB for those wins just shows, yet again, you have no idea what you are talking about. Give it up man hate on our QB if you like put please do some research or better yet watch the games before commenting on a form such as this.
June 4th, 2018 at 10:41 am
It’s sort of refreshing to see Joe offer up a little constructive criticism of Jameis when the Joes were his biggest advocates. If we all resorted to homerism every time we searched for answers of Jameis’s current regression then we are just fooling ourselves. I love Jameis but he’s not infallible and should be called out for poor play instead of being coddled, and found blameless..
June 4th, 2018 at 10:46 am
Threat of a running game is the most important asset to a young QB in the red zone.
June 4th, 2018 at 11:15 am
Agree with Kobe Faker on this one actually.
PFF did a breakdown of typical low % plays the Bucs ran vs higher % success plays teams like the Eagles ran that was somewhat interesting.
Also – as to another point about run games – 80% of the top 10 red zone teams had a top 15 run game. I think all top 5 red zone efficiency teams were top run teams
June 4th, 2018 at 11:16 am
Meant PR not PFF*
June 4th, 2018 at 11:34 am
Winston does throw too much to Evans whether he is open or not, mostly not. Evans height advantage is not such a big factor anymore if the ball is not a bit higher and on the mark, his reception totals last year were lower and the defenses covered him tighter. Agree that passing to red zone targets up close were subpar to where they need to be.
June 4th, 2018 at 11:59 am
It’s no mystery. Given the Bucs’ woes in the red zone, Jameis Winston is defaulting to his two security blankets: Mike Evans and Cameron Brate and especially Brate. It’s easy enough to do given the success of the Winston/Brate connection in the red zone. The problem is now everyone in the league is aware of that connection and just like throwing jump balls for Evans everyone is aligning to stop those connections. Winston needs to look elsewhere for his red zone passes which will most likely succeed and at the same time open Brate and Evans back up.
June 4th, 2018 at 12:01 pm
ndog since u call me out ..You must be Winston’s best bud, family or maybe his fiance (pls tell us)..I will lay off Winston for a while as I think you take it personal …..YES, I have season tkts and watch the games..
June 4th, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Tell it like it is Joe….this is the year we have to get the job done. And if not, it will hang on Jameis shoulders, as well as Koetter and Smiths…and Lichts. Time to take the training wheels off. Good luck Jameis…you have the talent…no more thumping helmets, eating W’s or Uber rides with the crew. This is the tipping point of your career.
June 4th, 2018 at 5:46 pm
Joe say’s ‘It’s never slow at JoeBucsFan”, uh, yea it is. THIS Joe rips Jameis at least 3 to 4 times a week. What’s your deal? Spit it out. It seems your wish is to get rid of him. Come clean. Not the “I just wanna see….” baloney. What’s your beef with the kid? You can’t be as ignorant a fan to not understand the won, loss deal. You just can’t be. So what is it?
June 4th, 2018 at 6:54 pm
@gilhealy – Why you rip Joe for typing up an interesting truth about Jameis. Man, I’m a big Jameis fans and I’m not offended. Joe is a big Jameis supporter too and everyone here knows it. What gives. Jameis is just ok after a few seasons. No shame there. He’ll get there or he won’t. Calm it. Appreciate this website. I do
June 4th, 2018 at 7:13 pm
Totally surprised the defense didn’t get blamed for the lack of offense scoring in the red zone.