Jameis Winston Takes Two Steps Back Against Arizona Cardinals

For a second there, it looked for all the world like Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston had made The Leap forward in his second year. But against the Arizona Cardinals this week, Winston took two steps back.

Winston's performance against the Atlanta Falcons last week was a tour de force, a sparkling performance that looked even better on tape than it did in the box score (and it looked great in the box score). But his Week 2 performance was almost the exact opposite, right down to reversing his touchdown to interception ratio.

To be fair, though, Winston may have run into a buzzsaw; the hacked-off Cardinals defense was on a mission after getting embarrassed by Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 1.

Sure, it was always going to be a big ask for Winston to go into University of Phoenix Stadium and complete 71.9 percent of his passes for 8.8 average yards per attempt, four touchdowns and one early pick—like he did in Atlanta. But even the gloomiest outlook didn't anticipate Winston completing just over half his passes for 4.7 yards per attempt, one touchdown, and a whopping five turnovers.

The final score (40-7) perfectly reflected the every-phase beatdown the Cardinals delivered. The Buccaneers' vaunted running-back duo didn't get much work when half of it—Doug Martin—left the game early with an injury. Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald victimized the Bucs' secondary, and David Johnson and Chris Johnson combined for 197 yards for scrimmage and a touchdown on 31 carries.

Winston provided the only flash of hope early in the third quarter, doing what he does best: Connecting for a long touchdown with big, fast receiver Mike Evans—the same Mike Evans who days ago was touting Winston as an MVP candidate.

"It's just one game," Winston said of his FexEx Air Player of the Week performance last week—and the young quarterback would do well to think the same of the implosion this week. A road game against a potential Super Bowl team that has one of the league's best defenses, which itself was especially motivated to break the young quarterback over their knee? Throughout his career, Winston may face more adverse circumstances—though they would be few and far between. But he certainly might not play a worse game.

Over the sweep of this season, the Bucs are counting on Winston to routinely deliver game-winning performances like he did in Week 1. If he can't play at (or near) that level more consistently, Tampa Bay won't just fail to challenge the Carolina Panthers for NFC South supremacy, they could struggle just to get out of the NFC South basement.