On Monday night, Jameis Winston seemed to make a strong case for becoming the starting quarterback in New Orleans this season. After the game, coach Sean Payton still wasn’t ready to declare a winner in the competition to replace Drew Brees.
“I don’t have a timeframe,” Payton told reporters. “When we know what direction we are going, we will let you guys know. We’re not going to try to anticipate saying, ‘Hey, it’s going to be midweek or next week.’ That’s, I think, the best way for us to handle it. It’s kind of how we’ve always handled something like this.”
They haven’t had to handle it very often over the past 15 years, thanks to the presence of Drew Brees.
Winston played extremely well, with a pair of touchdown passes and a passer rating of 157.5, only 0.8 below perfection. Taysom Hill didn’t fare as well; on multiple occasions he held the ball too long, and he curiously didn’t rely on his running abilities.
Despite the absence of a timeline, things seem to be moving toward Winston. Beyond what our eyes saw last night, our ears heard comments from a broadcasting crew that had the benefit of talking to Payton and others in the days preceding the game. And Hill’s demeanor at one point seemed to indicate that he knows where things are going.
With 19 days to go until a showdown against the Packers, the sooner the Saints get Winston the first-team reps, the better. Although most coaches can’t keep that information from trickling out, Payton managed to do it last year, when everyone assumed Winston would start in place of Brees and, ultimately, Payton announced that Hill would get the nod.
So, basically, there’s a chance Payton has made his decision or will be making it soon, and that he’ll keep it under wraps for as long as he can, in order to keep the Packers guessing as long as possible.
