In Jameis Winston, taken No. 1 overall in this year’s draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers figure they’ve found their starting quarterback for this season — and many seasons to come.
When it comes to the most important position on an NFL team, the Washington Redskins — the Bucs’ hosts on Sunday — really have no idea what they’ve got.
Robert Griffin III, who went No. 2 overall in 2012, was dropped to third string and has been in uniform once all season — and that’s only because the team was dealing with so many injured players who were inactive, it had no choice but to have the unused QB on the game-day roster.
“Every quarterback that we say is great right now has gone through times when they were inexperienced and they were learning,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “You just have to know that and try to be strong in other areas.”
The Redskins (2-4) are coming off consecutive losses heading into the game against the Bucs (2-3), who are coming off their bye, and Gruden has labeled this matchup a “code red” for his bunch.
“We certainly want to get the bad taste out of our mouths from the past two weeks,” said Cousins, who has thrown a pair of interceptions in each of Washington’s four defeats.
This has been designated the annual “homecoming” game for the Redskins, presumably because the opponent is coming off such a poor season — although a year ago, half of Tampa Bay’s win total came at the expense of Washington, via a 27-7 victory at the Redskins.
