MINNEAPOLIS -- With his first preseason game complete, Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston took little time getting ready for the team's flight back to Tampa on Saturday night, showering fast and wearing a simple red polo and a pair of jeans.
Winston walked casually to his postgame press conference, still calm and confident, still stoic despite the struggles that likely left plenty of fast-triggered critics debating whether the first overall pick is more comparable to Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell.
"Just playing football," said Winston, responding to a reporter who asked what he liked about his performance. "Just going out there and balling out."
Wait, doesn't Winston realize he just played bad? Isn't he worried? Shouldn't he be harder on himself? Maybe stare toward the ground a little more, befuddled and humbled, while contemplating his existence on this Earth?
Oh, right. It's preseason.
If there's one lesson we should all take away from Winston's first preseason game, more importantly than the interception or the fumbled snaps or the misfired passes, it might be the rookie's approach toward the game. For a player long criticized in college because of a lack of self-awareness away from the field, he is incredibly conscious on it.
Like it or not, his casual demeanor following this forgettable preseason game is precisely the attitude his coaches and teammates want to see from him.
"I was looking in his eyes to see how he was feeling (after early struggles), and it didn't faze him," wide receiver Louis Murphy said. "He was looking ready to go.
"He was very confident and very poised in the huddle. On the drive we went down and scored, he said, 'We're going to get seven points on this drive.' And we went 90 yards. He took on a leadership role and he said those things in the huddle so guys could believe in him."
It is exactly the sentiment so many who played college ball with him will tell you about him, as well. And it's a lesson the NFL world must now learn before jumping to quick conclusions about his professional fate. Winston handles big moments better than small ones. Tempo fuels him. He thrives on high-energy situations.
"You know, the fans don't really get into the game that much," said Winston, almost surprised by a lack of crowd energy in Minneapolis that surely never existed in college.
Maybe that's the reason Winston played his best football Saturday backed into a third-and-14 situation, completing a 40-yard pass to Vincent Jackson. Maybe it's the reason when Tampa Bay went into a no-huddle offense he found a rhythm previously absent.
"We're good playing fast," Winston said. "When we picked up the tempo, and we got things rolling, it started going downhill. Offensive line did great. Everyone around me did great. When we pick up the intensity, we see what we're capable of. But we've got to keep getting better everyday."
This defense of Winston doesn't come lightly. Early in training camp, quite honestly, Winston looked borderline terrible. His passes lacked zip, accuracy or anything close to the resemblance of a first-overall pick's skill set. But more recently, he has stacked a few solid practices together, the type that would make any onlooker resist the urge to draw conclusions based on his earlier moments of befuddlement. His passes in practice have looked far cleaner, far crisper and far more accurate.
So if Saturday's preseason game was the first opportunity to watch Winston (likely true for anyone who hasn't visited Bucs' training camp), your criticism is sensible -- just like it probably wasn't wrong to raise a private eyebrow about those early practices. But it might still be wise to steer clear of overall, wide-scoping judgment.
Just as Winston did many times during his college career, his most vulnerable moments often led to his most successful.
"It's just one half," Winston said. "It's my first game -- it's our first game. This is their second game playing against a real opponent. I just love the fact that we're out there playing football -- and the fact that we get to play another day.
"We've got Cincinnati at home next week. This game is behind us. We're going to watch the film and get better -- and getting better is the main thing."
Winston, no doubt, has plenty of improvements to make. And it's not going to be easy with an offensive line that also needs to quickly improve. The good news for the Bucs? They drafted a quarterback who never expected it to come easy and seemingly has the work ethic to fight through it. The game, despite Saturday's struggles, does not seem too big for him from a mental standpoint. That, truly, is a critical aspect of this assessment.
"I wasn't nervous," Winston said. "Just very anxious. Of course, I had butterflies, but that's because I wanted to do the right thing."
Winston ultimately did the right thing: He didn't freak out based on a bad debut. This wasn't a wildly successful night, by any means. Nor was it a monstrous and alarming catastrophe.
Through it all, Winston stayed calm, and he moved on, casually and confident, back to Tampa for another week of preparation for the games that actually matter.
Follow Jeff Darlington on Twitter @JeffDarlington.
