Tampa Bay Bucs fans don't have to wait for the anwer to the question who will start at quarterback on Sunday.
Head coach Dirk Koetter provided the answer, Jameis Winston, on Friday. They will have to wait, however, to get the answer to the question which Bucs team will show up on Sunday.
Tampa Bay's season so far has been a tale of two different teams. At times the Bucs look unstoppable, capable of explosive plays on both sides of the ball. Other times, the team looks like it has regressed.
Their loss to Arizona last Sunday served as a microcosm of what is wrong with the Bucs this year. And Koetter didn't mince words with his assessment of the team.
"We didn’t tackle. We didn’t fit the run," Koetter said. "We had three MEs (mental errors) in the run game that led to negative plays on offense. We dropped a pass on third-and-10.
"We did things that bad football teams do. Right now, we’re a bad football team.”
Winston was injured during the first series in the loss to the Cardinals. He sustained an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Koetter said he threw the ball well during Friday's practice in preparation for the Buffalo Bills and would get the start on Sunday.
For Winston, it comes down to how much pain he can tolerate.
This road trip, the second straight for the Bucs, is part of a tough stretch of schedule. So far this season, Tampa Bay is 0-2 on the road.
"We’ve got to start faster," Koetter said. "We’ve got to execute better early in games on offense. We’ve turned into this team that looks like gangbusters in the fourth quarter, but does not look like gangbusters in the first quarter. It’s a four-quarter game. We’ve got to start faster.
"Our defense normally hasn’t had as much of an issue, but (against Arizona) we had that issue on defense as well. That’s something as a coaching staff we’ve got to get figured out.”