Winston is wincing for multiple reasons this week.
The primary reason is all of the injuries he played through this week. Jameis Winston has 4 back fractures, and played with multiple layers of extra padding today. The fans were wincing every time he went down. Winston’s ankle is also injured. The extent of that injury is unclear. Hopefully he will tell us, so we can learn more medical terminology from him. The last time he introduced the ankle as the foot wrist.
You could see the pain reflected in the Saints’ quarterback gait from time to time, but he hid it well. His injuries seemingly impacted his play significantly. He even had a surprisingly emotional outburst, taking his cue from Tom Brady, when he threw his tablet. He was channeling Ken Dorsey energy.
He may be reacting to his pain, but it also could be his performance that upset him. His performance this season has some saying Winston is not the answer. Others have described him as a dud, not a stud in today’s 22-14 loss.
Granted, the Carolina Panthers have played better this game than normal. The Panthers finally broke their 9 game losing streak. Baker Mayfield actually threw passes today – to his teammates even, and Christian McCaffrey was healthy. Their defense was also solid. This was enough to get the win.
Did Dennis Allen forget about Andy Dalton? When you have a QB with 4 back fractures, and a hurt foot wrist, it would be logical to bring out the backup QB. Somewhere, Drew Brees is saying “shoot it up, young buck.”