New Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians thinks that fixing quarterback Jameis Winston will be easy. It may not be as easy as Arians believes it will be.
Winston will have to buy in to coaching. And it sounds like, at one point last year, he rebelled.
“I had to look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Hey Jameis, what do you have to do?’
Winston said during a Super Bowl-week interview, via JoeBucsFan.com, regarding his reaction to a midseason benching. “And that was simply, ‘Get back to playing Jameis Winston football. Be yourself. Have that swag. Don’t try to be something that a coach is trying to get you to be. You know, you gotta go and be you.’”
It’s not the first time Winston has expressed something less than utmost respect for his former coaches. Winston previously had taken a swipe at Dirk Koetter while expressing appreciation for Arians.
“This is one of the first times I’d had this in four years, really,” Winston has said in response to how it feels to know that Arians has Winston’s back and trusts him, via JoeBucsFan.com. “You know, so I’m really blessed to be with [Arians] and his coaches that he’s going to have with us.”
Although it’s not a full-blown verbal assault on Koetter and company, Bucs fans should be mildly troubled by what appears to be an effort by Winston to shift blame for a lackluster four seasons -- and by what could be a sign that he may direct some of the same frustration toward Arians, even if any future struggles are the fault of Winston.
