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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston earned a passing grade from the coaching staff in last week's preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, but in his mind it wasn't good enough. "The coaches gave me a B-minus," Winston said after a joint practice session with the Jacksonville Jaguars Monday. "Preseason or not, I just want to win. That's the main thing. Our improvements though -- scoring in the red zone, that's the main thing. Me and Mike Evans cannot get inside the 2-yard line and not connect on two straight attempts."  Winston got off to a hot start in Cincy, completing 5 of 6 passes for 79 yards on the opening drive before failing to hit Evans twice in the end zone on fade routes.
"That's the only negative I take from that game," said Winston, who believes he should have thrown Evans better balls, but also thought the officiating crew could have made a pass inference call on Adam Jones. "We looked good. We started off fast. Your first drives are from the 6-yard line and your next one is from the 1? You flip fields and you start the game off with a 92-yard drive? Gotta love it. "At the end of the day, like me and Mike talk about all the time, it does not matter [if you're fouled]. "You are Mike Evans; go catch the ball." Throughout his career, Winston has struggled with slow starts, so his accuracy on the opening drive was a big step forward. But the red zone is an area where he can take his chemistry with Evans to another level. Last year, Winston had a 49.2 percent completion percentage in the red zone, good for 20th in the league. He did, however throw 19 touchdowns from inside the red zone, seventh-most in the league. He was also one of nine quarterbacks in the league last year not to throw a pick in the red zone, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Evans had seven touchdown receptions inside the red zone last season, third in the league among wide receivers. But he had 47.1 percent receptions per target on 17 targets. Those numbers could go up. Jordy Nelson caught 70.4 percent of his passes in the red zone on 27 targets and had 11 touchdowns thrown from the red zone. Anquan Boldin had 20 red-zone targets and caught 70 percent of them. Larry Fitzgerald had 20 targets and caught 65 percent. Michael Crabtree and Davante Adams also had 20 and caught 60 percent. "Jameis did fine. Took care of the football, moved around in the pocket, maybe had one or two throws he’d like to have back -- that last third down he was in there, but fine overall," head coach Dirk Koetter said. "We need to finish that first drive with a touchdown. Good job getting off our own goal line, [but] that’s something we need to work on.”
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