Page 26 - Florida Sentinel 9-3-21

Sports
Jameis Winston Named Saints Starter
Bucs' Starters Impress
Ndamukong Suh Placed On COVID-19 List
NDAMUKONG SUH
Tampa Bay Buccaneers de- fensive tackle Ndamukong Suh will reportedly be placed on the NFL's reserve/COVID- 19 list and didn't travel with the team for its last Saturday night preseason finale against the Houston Texans. The Bucs won 23-16.
Suh can be activated if he has no symptoms and regis- ters two negative coronavirus test results on consecutive days.
Suh re-signed with the Bucs in April.
He'll have 12 days to clear protocols and prepare for the Buccaneers' regular-season opener Sept. 9 against the vis- iting Dallas Cowboys.
Jacksonville Jaguars Trade QB Gardner Minshew To Eagles
GARDNER MINSHEW, II
The Jacksonville Jaguars have traded quarterback Gardner Minshew, II to the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional 2022 sixth-round pick, it was announced Satur- day.
The sixth-round pick could rise to a fifth-rounder if Min- shew is involved in 50% of the plays in three games this season.
The move comes after Jaguars coach Urban Meyer announced Wednesday that top overall pick Trevor Lawrence had won the start- ing job and will be under cen- ter for the Sept. 12 season opener in Houston against the Texans.
In Final Tune-Up Before
Regular Season; Set For
Jameis Winston is now set to be the heir to Drew Brees' throne. The veteran quarterback has reportedly been named the starter for the New Orleans Saints, beat- ing out teammate Taysom Hill, whom he battled with throughout the summer. Winston will now carry the torch that had been held by Brees for 15 years prior to his retirement announcement earlier this offseason. While he may be stepping into Brees' former role, the of- fense may look a bit different with this new quarterback under center.
If New Orleans' two pre- season exhibitions are any in- dication, we could see a more aggressive downfield attack under Winston. As he was en-route to winning the start- ing job, Winston completed 16 of his 22 passes (72.7%) this preseason for 219 yards, three touchdowns and an in- terception. While Hill had the same passing yardage total as Winston, it wasn't as efficient, completing 59.3% of his throws with a touchdown and an interception over two games. Winston also was much more effective throw-
Cowboys Opening Day
It wasn’t the prettiest start for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of- fense Saturday night against the Houston Texans, as they looked disjointed and off-kil- ter on a three-and-out to begin their preseason finale.
The following two posses- sions would prove, however, that fans of the defending Super Bowl champions have nothing to worry about head- ing into the regular season.
Brady and the Bucs put together back-to-back 90- yard touchdown drives after their literal and figurative false start, looking so impres- sive that head coach Bruce Arians took them all out early after telling the media earlier in the week that the starters would play at least the first half.
Arians saw all he needed to see, including a defense that surrendered no points in the first half (Houston’s only points came on a safety), stopping the Texans twice on fourth down inside the red zone. The Bucs beat the
TOM BRADY
Houston Texans, 23-16. “Pleased with everything but the first series on of- fense,” Arians said after the game. “Can’t start against them with a penalty on three- and-out and give them field position, but other than that, we had a nice rhythm. Loved the speed of the defense, speed of the offense. Once we got going, I saw the things I wanted to see, I didn’t need
to see anymore.”
Brady concurred with
his head coach’s assessment. The Buccaneers play their opening day game against the Dallas Cowboys in two weeks on Thursday, Septem-
ber 9th.
JAMEIS WINSTON
ing into tight windows and working against the blitz, which are two factors that likely went into him ulti- mately winning the job.
Not only was Winston more efficient, but he was more explosive as a passer, which is something we saw during his days with the Buc- caneers. According to Next Gen Stats, Winston has av- eraged 11 air yards per at- tempt this preseason, which is nearly double Hill's 6.3 air yards per attempt over the same stretch (For reference: Brees' intended air yards per attempt in 2020 was 6.1). Winston was also +38.6% CPOE (completion percent- age over expected) when throwing deep (20+ air yards), which also bested Hill.
Trevor Lawrence
Named Jaguars' Starting
Quarterback For Week 1
Game Against Texans
Trevor Lawrence will lead the Jaguars' offense when they kick off the 2021 season against the Texans, Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer announced on Wednesday. While Lawrence was expected to be the Jaguars' Week 1 starter, Meyer waited until he'd had two preseason games to evaluate being mak- ing it official.
The announcement comes less than 48 hours after Lawrence went 14 of 23 for 113 yards in Jacksonville's 23- 21 loss in New Orleans last week. Gardner Minshew, who started 20 games for the Jaguars over the last two sea-
TREVOR LAWRENCE
sons, went 13 of 21 for 149 yards with an interception during the second half of Monday night's game.
Lawrence embraced what had still been an open position battle entering Mon- day.
"I just think it's all about
competition," said.
Lawrence
PAGE 10-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2021