Even with Jameis Winston coming off a game with two pick-sixes, Donte Jackson and the Steelers are taking nothing lightly. After all, they just lost to Winston and the Browns the week prior.
Jackson even picked off Winston in that game, but he only managed to return it for two yards. In spite of a positive turnover differential, the Steelers still lost. And they are not counting on free shots at the ball. Despite his reputation, they don’t buy that the Browns’s quarterback is somehow reckless.
“I wouldn’t say [Jameis Winston] likes to throw the ball up”, Donte Jackson said, via the Steelers’ website. “I think most of the things he does, from an IQ standpoint, is very, very well-calculated. He’s a gunslinger. He has a ton of confidence in his arm. That’s just what it is. I love the way he competes and he gives his guys a chance to go and make plays on the ball. That’s really what you see, for real, him giving his guys a chance to make plays on the ball”.
Jameis Winston has the highest interception ratio of all active qualifying quarterbacks at 3.4 percent. Only Blaine Gabbert and Sam Darnold also have a ratio north of 3 percent. This season, after throwing seven interceptions over the past four games, including the one to Donte Jackson, he is posting an interception ratio of 3 percent.
Since replacing Deshaun Watson as the Browns’ starting quarterback due to injury, Winston has gone 2-3. He is 141-for-230 passing for 1,763 yards with 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Those numbers are very typical of the boom-and-bust pattern of his career as a whole. Yet Jackson doesn’t see that as the product of careless play.
Rather, for Jackson, it’s about a quarterback who trusts himself and trusts his playmakers, and sees Jameis Winston as the kind of quarterback who is always willing to give his guys a chance. Of course, some might say that that is precisely what a reckless quarterback is.
But what Donte Jackson and the Steelers need to care about this week is simply beaten Jameis Winston. He got the better of them last time out, when they literally couldn’t stop him on the Browns’ game-winning drive.
throughout his career, Winston has always been a big-play quarterback, whether he is making the big plays or the defense is making them against him. While he has the highest interception percentage, he also has the 12th-highest touchdown percentage. I will casually note that Russell Wilson is tied for third with Patrick Mahomes.
But Jackson and the Steelers’ secondary can’t let him get going. And that means the pass rush getting after him. With Alex Highsmith back, the trio including T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig need to give Jameis Winston a hard time. If they can speed up his internal clock, they can force him to take greater and greater chances. As they do that, the likelihood of another pick-six climbs.
