Many and plenty at stake in 2018
TAMPA — Sometimes, it’s good to know everything is on the line. The NFL is a zero-sum game. Win. Lose. Very rarely tie. They keep score. The risks are great. The rewards are greater.
For the Buccaneers, next year is already too late.
But maybe, just maybe, knowing that is the shot of adrenaline into the heart that the moribund franchise needs. It could help players shake the inertia of 10 seasons without a playoff appearance. Only the Browns have gone longer.
Something is on the line this year for every member of the Bucs organization, including the lines themselves.
What’s on the line for Jameis Winston? He might be playing for his career.
The fourth-year quarterback is suspended the first three games for violating the NFL’s playerconduct policy. After an eight-month investigation, the league ruled he touched an Arizona female Uber driver “in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent” in March 2016. At stake for Winston is nearly $21 million, the amount guaranteed for 2019 only against injury when the Bucs picked up his fifth-year club option.
One more misstep, the league has warned, and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft out of Florida State is suspended indefinitely.
“I have to look at myself and grow and learn from this experience,” said Winston, 24.
A franchise quarterback can earn $100 million on his extension. Winston isn’t eligible to return until Sept. 30 at Chicago. He’ll have to play great the remaining 13 games, and he knows it.
“It’s disappointing that Jameis put himself in that position and put our team in that position,” coach Dirk Koetter said, “but at this point it’s done, and we have to deal with it.”
The only way the Bucs can deal with it is turning to 35-year-old vagabond quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who faces this slate in the first three games: at NFC South champion New Orleans, home against Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, and a Monday night game at Raymond James Stadium against AFC North champion Pittsburgh.
“It is the quarterback, and we’ve been without him before and we did OK,” Koetter said. “We’re not shooting for OK; we’re shooting for greatness. We understand that we’re playing three really good teams.”
What’s on Koetter?
At 59, he’s unlikely to get another chance to be an NFL head coach. U.S. presidents get four years to prove they can get it right. The last Bucs coach to serve even one term was Jon Gruden.
Koetter went 9-7 in his first season but missed the playoffs. Last year, with the Hard Knocks hype machine in training camp, followed by the harder knocks left by Hurricane Irma, the Bucs fell back to 5-11. There were two fivegame losing streaks. Koetter watched Winston play with a hurt shoulder, then shut him down for three games.
It all led to a seventh last-place finish in the NFC South in nine seasons. Koetter has said it took courage for the Glazer family not to fire him after 2017. But his seat is pretty hot for September. the line for