Vikings v Saints: Putting The ‘INT’ In International Series

The New Orleans Saints are entering the first season of a new regime – one without Sean Payton and still attempting to gain an offensive identity post-Drew Brees. They decided to go with Jameis Winston, the former overall No.1 pick in the draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2015, a man for whom a combination of bad luck and costly mistakes has defined his career to date. This season it was announced (after the first game) that he is suffering with four separate back fractures; something which naturally, is not helping with his mechanics. This health issue, coupled with bad decision making, has led to some poor play through the first three weeks of the year.

Following the impressive fourth quarter comeback on the road at Atlanta in Week 1 (27-26 with 269 yards with 2 touchdowns and no turnovers), the following week saw bad Jameis rear it’s ugly head. At home versus the Buccaneers (his former team) Winston delivered a nightmare performance, going 25-40 for 236 yards with 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions, 6 sacks and a fumble – as the Saint succumbed to a stellar Tampa D.

On Sunday, Jameis attempted to outdo himself in Carolina but threw for two more interceptions and two further fumbles to gift the Panthers their first win of the season. That takes Winston’s INT total to five on the year, a worrying trend for a team who seems to like to air it out; their QB throwing for another 300 plus yards in the defeat. He seems to have made a good connection with rookie speedster Chris Olave, who had 147 yards off nine grabs and the target of 13 of Winston’s 41 total passes. Michael Thomas also had 49 yards off of five targets. Winston is off the leash and has weapons, but can he find them rather than the opposition?

Jameis played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Bucs back in 2019 – the last season before Brady came to town. And he famously threw a pick six on his first possession in the game versus the Carolina Panthers. That was the first season that games were played at the Premier League stadium. and that pass was greeted by a mighty roar from the UK crowd. An exciting game ended in a 37-26 for Jameis and the Buccs, helping cement the North London venue as a leading location for NFL games in Europe.

And to bring it full circle, Winston’s Successor in Tampa also has a trip to this continent later this year; for the first time there will be an NFL regular season encounter in Germany, when Tom Brady faces off against Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs in a repeat of SuperBowl LV when he won his 7th ring. Perhaps two of the greatest QB’s in the game will avoid making Munich a capital of turnovers quite like Winston has done in London.