TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston is making strides as an NFL quarterback. Now he has a home victory to build on.
Monday night's 25-11 exhibition victory over the Cincinnati Bengals may not count in the standings, but it was welcomed by a team trying to change the culture of a franchise that hadn't posted a victory -- exhibition or regular season -- at Raymond James Stadium since 2013.
"Obviously people are going to look at this as a preseason game but in that locker room, our team morale, we are going to look at it as we get a win," said Winston, the first overall pick in this year's NFL Draft. "That's definitely important. We get a win. It does matter. It doesn't matter if it's a football game in a Wal-Mart parking lot, we want to win."
Winston was nearly flawless on Tampa Bay's first possession, going 3-for-3 passing and scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run to finish an 80-yard drive that set the tone for a tough night for the Bengals (1-1), who yielded 52 yards rushing to Doug Martin along the way.
Winston limped off the field, done for the night, two plays after appearing to tweak his right ankle when he was sacked by Geno Atkins and Wallace Gilberry early in the second quarter.
The rookie remained on the sideline, cheering when Mike Glennon threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Russell Shepard for a 20-0 lead. In four series, he was 8 of 13 for 90 yards and no interceptions.
Winston stumbled as he backed away from center before being wrapped up in the arms of Atkins and Gilberry and taken to the ground. He threw an incompletion on the next play, and then was penalized for intentional grounding on third down, forcing a punt.
"It was a tough fall, but it was just a coach's decision. I thought we saw enough from him," said Coach Lovie Smith, who had been 0-10 at home with the Buccaneers (1-1). "He did some good things. I felt like it was the perfect time to take him out. If we had needed him to play, he would have gone back in the game on the next series."
The 2013 Heisman Trophy winner overcame a slow start in his preseason debut to lead a long scoring drive that he also capped with a scoring run against Minnesota. One of his goals Monday night was to start faster, and he accomplished that objective with completions of 9 yards to Martin, 7 yards to Jorvorskie Lane and 11 yards to Austin Seferian-Jenkins on the opening drive.
Tampa Bay defensive back Alterraun Verner returned one of Andy Dalton's two interceptions 24 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. Bradley McDougald picked off an overthrown pass by Dalton on Cincinnati's next possession, returning it 38 yards to set up Glennon's touchdown pass.
Dalton, who only played one series in the Bengals' exhibition opener against the New York Giants, finished 6 of 13 for 46 yards and was sacked 3 times. AJ McCarron replaced him at the start of the third quarter.
"There wasn't any consistency. We turned the ball over. You can't do that. And we never got any momentum going," Dalton said. "Obviously, we want to come out and play well every time we're on the field, but it is preseason."
Sports on 08/25/2015