Before Sunday’s games got underway, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that Saints quarterback Jameis Winston would be taking the field against the Buccaneers with four fractures in his back.
Winston had been on the injury report with a back injury during the week, but there was no indication of the severity of the issue that he’s been dealing with. Winston had no interest in discussing the nature of his injury after throwing three interceptions and being sacked six times in a 20-10 loss.
Winston said at his postgame press conference that his back “feels like my back” and turned every question about his injury into a chance to say that his performance fell short of acceptable standards.
“Yeah, you know, everyone in the locker room was playing with some type of banged up or something,” Winston said. “But like I said, what’s important is offensively I have to do a better job of executing third downs, and I can’t give them the football. . . . My main thing is focusing on execution. I didn’t execute. Like two weeks in a row where we were [around] 4 for 13 on third downs, and that’s on me. It’s just this time I turned over the football. So we’re going to get back to the drawing board and I’m going to protect the football. That’s the big thing.”
Saints head coach Dennis Allen said that he “didn’t really see” Winston’s back affecting him during the game and the Saints will have to come up with a better plan of attack offensively in Week Three regardless of any medical circumstances they have to deal with over the course of the week.
