Jameis Winston and the Bucs struggled for much of last week's joint practices with the Browns. Come game time, their fortunes flipped.
Tampa Bay's second-year quarterback was an electric presence in Friday night's 30-13 slamming of Cleveland, an offensive outpouring that saw Winston throw for 259 yards and two touchdowns in just 30 minutes of play.
"We went no-huddle the whole first half and it worked," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said, per PewterReport.com. "Jameis came out on fire and made some beautiful plays."
After Koetter was disappointed with his team's energy during the week, Friday night saw Tampa play with pace all evening, quickly tiring out Cleveland's scattered secondary.
"He'll be the first to tell you that he likes playing that way," Koetter said of WInston. "All of those guys like playing that way. After that first drive, even though it ended in a field goal, (center) Evan Smith walked right by me and said, 'Stay in it! Stay in it!'"
After starting 0-for-6 passing in last week's ho-hum win over the Jaguars, Winston rapidly pegged his first three throws against the Browns, included two completions for 39 yards to Mike Evans. He also showed off his trimmed-down frame with a nine-yard scramble on third down to move the chains.
Winston nearly lost a fumbled snap on Tampa's second drive, but later made up for it on a pretty play that saw the quarterback whisk away from two heat-seeking Browns defenders to find Charles Sims for a 3-yard touchdown.
Cleveland's young defense is hardly an NFL acid test, but Winston looked comfortable from the start running the show at a fevered pace. You couldn't have asked for more in what amounts to Tampa's regular-season tune-up.
"That's a big thing for our offense -- starting fast," Winston said. "With just my confidence with me starting slow the last game, we wanted to make a statement. Show these people what we are all about. I believe we did that."
