Winslow sets team mark, talks about bigger goals
Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 28 December 2009

Kellen Winslow established a new franchise mark when he reached 828 receiving yards this season, surpassing Jimmie Giles (786 yards in 1981).

But it wasn’t so much his numbers as the timing of some of his plays that mattered most. With the Bucs’ passing game disjointed early in the game, Winslow proved the team’s most consistent threat and exploited the Saints’ soft downfield coverage. With the running game working well, the Saints employed two-deep coverage that often gave Winslow some favorable matchups.

“They wanted to let Josh (Freeman) beat them,” Winslow said of the Saints. “We didn’t capitalize early, but we made a few adjustments and stuck with it and came out and did it.”

Freeman joked afterward, “Kellen, if you listen to him, he’s open on every play. But Kellen did a great job today of beating man coverage (and) working the zones. “It was just a matter of Kellen understanding the coverages and running good routes and us being on the same page.”

What struck Winslow, however, was the fortitude of his young teammates. “It’s just coming together,” he said. “Our record is what it is, but we’re progressing. We’ve had a lot of these (close games) when you look back on the year. We’re just preparing for the big moments here and in the future.”