The New Orleans Saints can win games with Jameis Winston. Just, not when he’s playing bad football. Between injuries, poor coaching decisions, and Winston’s own flaws and bad habits as a passer, that’s exactly what they experienced in Sunday’s ugly home opener. He’s worked really hard to develop as a quarterback, but it felt like a lot of that was undone in a single sloppy afternoon.
The team managed to keep news of his four fractured vertebrae under wraps until the last hour or so before kickoff, and it showed. It was rough. Winston was sacked six times, losing 30 yards of offense, and Saints coach Dennis Allen acknowledged after the game that he was missing throws he’d normally make. He was too often throwing off-target and moving stiffly as his body worked to compensate for the lower-back injury.
It’s been reported that this is seen as a short-term injury that’s more painful than limiting any functionality, but that explanation really undersells the level of concentration an NFL quarterback needs to maintain during games. Winston’s composure was off all afternoon. He moved with a lot of hesitation, taking some tackles for loss that could have picked up a first down or mistiming his passes because he didn’t trust his eyes.
Other times we just saw glimpses of the “same old Jameis” that gets thrown around when recapping his Buccaneers career. He stared down the slot receiver on a pass that was intercepted by Mike Edwards and returned 68 yards for a defensive touchdown. His other interceptions came from faulty ball placement, though Jamel Dean deserves credit for making two great plays when the opportunity presented itself.
Winston deserves a lot of blame for this game, and he knows it. He said afterwards that “I have to do a better job of protecting the football. That’s the most important thing.”
But it wasn’t all on him. The coaching staff knew he wasn’t right going into this. Winston was limited with a back issue on the injury report all week, which isn’t too unusual, but the severity is noteworthy. He took the field with four fractured vertebrae and special padding to help protect his already-injured lower back. Once they saw how off he was, they should have pulled him out. It shouldn’t have even gotten that far.
That’s why the team signed Andy Dalton in free agency, potentially threatening a valuable comp pick they’d receive for losing stars like Terron Armstead and Marcus Williams next year. That’s something you have to consider when you sell mortgage future picks to help yourself now. Instead, Dalton looks like an expensive backup. How many interceptions did Dennis Allen need to see before deciding to pull Winston out of the game for his own good? It wasn’t three. Would it have been four? Five?
It’s frustrating, and all the more so because it didn’t have to do this way. Players want to play. That’s what they do. But Allen and his coaching staff have a responsibility to put those players in position to win. When they’re watching Winston struggle to move the ball for two quarters, then three, then most of a fourth period, and still refuse to pull him out of his own way, what does it say about them? When he’s missing so many passes they’ve seen him make when he isn’t dealing with multiple fractured vertebrae, why not put him on ice?
Maybe Sean Payton would have handled it differently. Maybe not. He left Drew Brees out to dry in some meltdowns over the years, too. But Allen isn’t Payton, and he’s got to do a better job managing his players and specifically his quarterback. Winston’s version of the Saints offense doesn’t move with any sense of rhythm, and that goes back to the opening series in Atlanta last week. If Allen’s response to seeing his quarterback flail and hurt the team is to just leave him out there, it doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in him. Let’s see what he and Winston learn from this experience.
