Winston’s will to win on full display during fourth quarter run Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 7 December 2015 The first 10 yards were talent. The final 10 yards were magic. I don’t know what was churning harder, Jameis Winston’s legs or his heart. The Run. It was the kind of will-to-win moment that can define seasons and make rookie legends, a dream-weaving sequence, unforgettable: young Winston, in the dying minutes of a must-win game, third and 19, emerging from of a pile of three Atlanta Falcons linebackers — 714 pounds of We’ve Got You Now, Kid — to scramble some more, to break more tackles, to lunge, to move chains. First and Jameis. Oh, and the Bucs win, 23-19. Who isn’t still talking about The Run? Who didn’t think he was down? Everyone did, except the only person who mattered: No. 3. Third and 19. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” Bucs center Joe Hawley said. “That was the sickest play I’ve ever seen by a quarterback, by anybody, really.” “Jameis made the play of the year for our team,” Bucs receiver Mike Evans said. “That was a play from God, honestly,” Bucs defensive tackle Akeem Spence. “God is good, man,” Winston said. “When guys want it, the guys out there fighting and battling together, that’s what we’re here for. That’s what we play football for. That’s what y’all come to see.” I bet more than a few Bucs fans hit their knees after Third and 19 to thank their maker that their team tanked the New Orleans game to end last season to make sure they picked No. 1. Shotgun. Winston felt pressure. He slipped through the line between Hawley and left guard Logan Mankins. Bucs tight end Cameron Brate turned to throw a block. Winston ran into a pile of players, including Falcons linebackers Paul Worrilow and Brooks Reed. Winston bent forward over the pile, hand on the ground, stood back up, got popped by linebacker Justin Durant, which actually propeled him. He ran right and kept going, through two more tacklers. Man, oh, man, is football fun with Jameis around. How much fun? How about later in the winning drive he kept alive? The Bucs are huddling near the Atlanta goal line. To a man, they’re gassed. But Winston is fresh, ever joyful, asking ‘Who wants a touchdown?” like a preschool teacher yelling “Who wants ice cream?” to the kids. Evans shouted, ‘Me, me, me!” So Jameis threw him one for the winning touchdown. Simple as that. Fun, fun, fun. “He ran it, threw it, did whatever he had to do to help us win,” Hawley said. The Run. Here’s Gene Deckerhoff’s call on the Buccaneers Radio Network: “... Winston dropping, looking, under pressure. He’s going to run, he’s going to run with the ball. Pump fake. Winston’s going to dive to the 32. Did he fumble the ball? He’s still on his feet! Bounces to the 30! To the 25! Winston, he’s got the first down!” “I thought he was stopped, but I didn’t hear the whistle,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “I watched him continue to run. And I was as excited as everyone else was.” “I was lying on the ground,” Brate said. “We called a pass play ... I was the check-down. I thought Jameis was going to throw it to me. So he’s looking at me. He pumps toward me, then takes off. I try to throw him a block, didn’t really throw him a great one. We were all just in a pile. I’m face down. Jameis is on top, I guess. "Suddenly people around me are still running. Jameis is loose. I caught the tail end. What an effort, It’s a testament to his character, his will. He was going to do what it took to win this game.” If he’d been stopped after the first 10 yards, the Bucs could have settled for a 50-yard Connor Barth field goal try for the tie. “Jameis was thinking otherwise, obviously,” Evans said. “I play quarterback, but I’m a football player,” Winston said. “I just admire guys who go out there and want to do anything to put their team in a winning position, like the greats. That’s what Tom Brady is. That’s what Peyton Manning does. That’s what Cam Newton is doing right now. He’s going out there and putting his team in a winning position.” All this poetry on the day that Doug Williams, the first winner Bucs quarterback, was inducted in the team’s Ring of Honor. There were times when the first Bucs coach, John McKay, told his Bucs players, “If we can keep it close, Dougie will find a way to win it.” The Run. Who knows if this Bucs playoff chase will amount to anything. But does it matter at this point? This franchise seems to have found its quarterback, someone to follow today and tomorrow. It was all there on third and 19, unstoppable, undeniable. First and Jameis.