Jameis Winston is one of the most controversial prospects entering the 2015 NFL Draft. After winning the Heisman Trophy in 2013 his redshirt freshman year, Winston regressed the following season where he threw 18 interceptions to just 25 touchdowns. In this film breakdown we will look closer at his interceptions and see if we can determine why he threw them and see if these mistakes are correctable for the future.
Interception #1
Situation: 3rd and 10 at OKST 13
Description: Q2 – (14:49) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Seth Jacobs return for 14 yds to the OKSt 20
Winston misses the weakside inside linebacker in zone coverage over the middle of the field. This is an easy interception for LB10 Jacobs on the slant route. Pre-snap read is Cover 2 with five zones across. The middle linebacker drops into deep middle third zone to form a Tampa 2 Cover shell with one of the defensive lineman dropping into zone coverage as well. Winston forces the slant route over the middle rather than progressing through his reads and seeing his running back in the left flat wide open.
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 29
Description: Q2 – (:35) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Ashton Lampkin return for no gain to the FlaSt 49
Winston takes the snap from shotgun and goes through his progressions on the left side of the field. He senses pressure coming from the edge and steps up to buy more time. At the line of scrimmage Winston releases the ball down field for WR80 Greene who Winston assumes will comeback for the ball. At the top of the route Greene figures he’s covered and looks back for the ball only for it to be too late as CB6 Lampkin is already diving forward for the interception on the sideline.
This interception is caused by a combination of Greene not finishing the play, and a great diving catch by Lampkin to secure the ball. Winston does a great job of sensing the pressure showing great pocket presence and mobility while buying more time in the pocket. If Greene turned and kept playing through the whistle this could have been a great play on 1st down to keep the chains moving in order to set up a late field goal at the end of the first half.
Interception #3
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 40
Description: Q3 – (14:55) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Jerod Fernandez return for no gain to the NCSt 41
In this play, Winston shows great pocket presence, but shows very questionable decision making. Winston launches the ball purely based off his arm strength as he backfoots the throw forcing it to TE35 Nick O’Leary in traffic. The ball is behind the target, which O’Leary can’t bring in and bounces right into the defender’s hands.
Interception #4
Situation: 2nd and 14 at FSU 23
Description: Q4 – (7:24) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Jerod Fernandez return for 19 yds to the FlaSt 12
Just like Play 1, Winston forces the ball to the slant WR and doesn’t see the underneath linebacker. Another easy interception.
Interception #5
Situation: 3rd and 10 at FSU 44
Description: Q1 – (9:08) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Merrill Noel return for 26 yds to the FlaSt 34
Winston takes the snap and instantly finds TE35 O’Leary over the middle of the field for the first down. The pass is a bullet, but the ball is slightly behind Winston’s intended target allowing the linebacker in coverage to make a play on the ball. In order for this pass to work, Winston needs to put the ball slightly in front of his target in order to not allow the safety over top to make a play, but also allow O’Leary to bring down the ball without interference from his defender in man coverage. Additionally, Winston needs to stop staring down his target from the snap as this allows defenders with better awareness (NFL defenders) to make a play on the ball.
Interception #6
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 19
Description: Q2 – (12:48) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Joe Schmidt return for no gain to the FlaSt 31
This is my least favorite play by Winston out of all his interceptions. Notre Dame brings four pass rushers and RG54 Jackson gets beaten to the inside by DT94 on a stab-and-grab forcing Winston backwards in the pocket.
Winston impersonates Johnny Manziel without a Mike Evans-style wide receiver over the middle of the field displaying terrible decision-making. He needs to take a sack here and live to fight another down instead of almost throwing the game away. In the NFL, this is bench-worthy material to me if I was a head coach.
Interception #7
Situation: 3rd and 8 at LOU 49
Description: Q2 – (7:45) Jameis Winston pass intercepted James Burgess return for 9 yds to the Lvile 48
The next three interceptions (Plays 7-9) were against Louisville. In this play Louisville’s defense brings a delayed A-gap blitz with thier Mike LB that the Seminoles offensive line can’t pick up, so Winston is feeling the pressure as he is releasing the ball. Winston attempts to pass it to TE35 O’Leary on an out route for the first down, but Winston underthrows it inside of him. This is poor ball placement that allowed LB13 Burgess to pick it off over the middle and the same EXACT interception in Play 5 against Wake Forest earlier in the season.
Winston needs to fully step through this throw and place it only for his TE to be able to grab it. Also, it doesn’t help that Winston stares down the TE the entire route making this an easy read by the defender.
Interception #8
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 20
Description: Q2 – (5:06) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Gerod Holliman return for no gain to the FlaSt 43
Winston’s first read is the corner/flag route on a smash combination on the left side of the field, which Winston releases the ball and overthrows it to FS Holliman. Winston stares down his target from the beginning bringing over the safety.
The CB on the outside drops to cover the corner route while the LB drops to cover the underneath hitch. The Louisville defense actually did a great job of guarding against this smash concept which is designed to beat Cover 2 defenses.Basically the onus is on Winston for staring down his first read leading to the interception. Winston, in the future, needs to look off the safety first before releasing the ball.
Interception #9
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 25
Description: Q3 – (15:00) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Gerod Holliman return for 5 yds to the FlaSt 40 Gerod Holliman fumbled, forced by Jameis Winston, recovered by FlaSt Travis Rudolph
Defense is in Cover 2 and Winston stares down WR15 Rudolph running a seam route over the middle. The safety watches him the entire play and picks off Winston easily since Winston doesn’t see him at all. Winston needs to move on from this read and find another wide receiver as Rudolph is covered between the two zones.
Interception 10
Situation: 3rd and 5 at FSU 47
Description: Q1 – (8:23) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Maurice Canady return for no gain to the Virg 47
Winston takes the snap and looks for WR1 Lane on the dig route over the middle of the field. Winston starts feeling the pressure and slowly moves backwards in the pocket and then forces the ball across the middle not seeing CB26 Canady playing zone coverage. Canady makes an incredible leaping interception for the Virginia defense.
WR1 Lane was open if Winston put more touch on the pass, but you have to give credit to Canady for making this interception as well as blaming Winston for not seeing the underneath defender.
Interception #11
Situation: 2nd and 8 at FSU 48
Description: Q1 – (2:52) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Eli Harold return for no gain to the FlaSt 45
This is another pass like Play 5 and 7 where Winston tries to force the ball to TE35 O’Leary on the hitch route over the middle of the field after not progressing through his reads.
UVA FS Harris makes a great pass breakup that knocks the ball into the air towards DE/OLB Eli Harold for an interception. Normally this results in a simple pass breakup, but Winston is very unlucky here that it gets deflected straight up into the air. Even so, Winston shows a tendency to stare down his first target lightly too long and force the ball to him even when he’s covered.
Interception #12
Situation: 1st and 10 at MIA 39
Description: Q2 – (:38) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Deon Bush return for no gain to the MiaFl 4
WR80 Greene runs a deep corner route in which Winston takes his time in the pocket to wait for his wide receiver to get open. Miami’s defense is playing bracket coverage over the speedy wide receiver and FS2 Bush makes a great play over-the-top to bring in the ball. Winston needs to stop projecting his passes. He has to look off the safety and then throw it deep for it to stay open.
Interception #13
Situation: 2nd and 9 at BC 43
Description: Q2 – (8:24) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Ty-Meer Brown return for 4 yds to the BC 33
This interception was on a slant route to WR80 Greene who barely gains separation oout of his break. Winston actually passes the ball perfectly into Greene’s outstretched hands, but it takes an unfortunate bounce towards FS5 Brown for an easy interception. Some might blame Winston for forcing this pass to a covered wide receiver, but out of all his interceptions this one is easily the easiest one to forgive.
Interception #14
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 32
Description: Q1 – (13:40) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Jabari Gorman return for no gain to the FlaSt 39
Against Florida Winston threw four interceptions in Plays 14-17, where three came in the first quarter alone.
In this first pass Winston attempts the slant route but CB2 Gorman does an excellent job of jumping it. This is an excellent read-and-react interception that it looks like Gorman knew it was coming from the start. WR7 Pender wasn’t expecting the cornerback to be there at all and consequently didn’t box Gorman out properly while this was the correct read for Winston since Gorman was in off-man coverage. For Pender, I’d like to see him take the slant route more shallow next time seeing as his defender was 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage which should make it easier for Winston to throw the ball to him.
Interception #15
Situation: 3rd and 8 at FSU 25
Description: Q1 – (11:55) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Quincy Wilson return for no gain to the FlaSt 48
Winston targets WR3 Jesus Wilson on a skinny post route over the middle of the field. Jesus Wilson is Winston’s first read on this play but Winston forces the ball after staring him down. On top of that, Winston overthrows the ball leading to an interception by CB12 Quincy Wilson. Terrible decision on the play and Winston needs to stop thinking he can force these tight window throws.
Interception #16
Situation: 3rd and 8 at FSU 25
Description: Q1 – (11:55) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Quincy Wilson return for no gain to the FlaSt 48
Winston targets WR3 Jesus Wilson on a skinny post route over the middle of the field. Jesus Wilson is Winston’s first read on this play but Winston forces the ball after staring him down. On top of that, Winston overthrows the ball leading to an interception by CB12 Quincy Wilson. Terrible decision on the play and Winston needs to stop thinking he can force these tight window throws.
Interception #16
Situation: 2nd and 12 at FSU 2
Description: Q1 – (1:34) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Brian Poole return for no gain to the FlaSt 9
Winston runs a bootleg flood to the right and targets WR1 Lane on an out route. After the snap Winston reads the wide receivers on the right side of the field and and finds Lane breaking on his out route getting open near the sideline.
Winston releases the ball, but doesn’t see CB24 Poole sitting deeper in man-coverage on WR80 Greene. It’s due to this lack of vision in not seeing the underneath defender that Winston throws an interception here. The decision to throw it to Lane is perfectly fine, but he needs to put more touch on the pass and make sure that only his player can get the ball.
Interception #17
Situation: 3rd and 11 at FLA 46
Description: Q3 – (2:45) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Brian Poole return for 27 yds to the FlaSt 33
Here is CB24 Brian Poole’s second interception on the night. Winston takes the snap from shotgun and instantly targets WR80 Greene from the slot on a slant route, but Poole is sitting underneath waiting for the ball. Winston doesn’t see Poole leading to the interception. I’d like to see Winston attempt to look off the zone coverage linebacker first by watching another wide receiver in order to open up the passing lanes.
Interception #18
Situation: 1st and 10 at FSU 36
Description: Q3 – (1:07) Jameis Winston pass intercepted Erick Dargan return for no gain to the FlaSt 43
Winston’s final interception came in the Rose Bowl against #2 Oregon. After Winston releases the ball, DE44 Buckner deflects the ball which causes WR15 Rudolph to not be able to secure it in the air. Winston actually does a good job of going through his reads on this play, but it unfortunately was tipped twice right into the hands of FS4 Dargan.
