Winston's progress gives Buccaneers hope for future

 Jameis Winston stood in the middle of the Tampa Bay locker room, talking about why the team has a promising future.

The Buccaneers (6-10) tripled their victory total from a year ago, and the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft was the biggest reason why.

Winston joined Andrew Luck and Cam Newton as the only players since the 1970 merger to throw for 4,000 yards as rookies. His 22 touchdown passes and team co-leading six TDs rushing helped transform one of the league's least productive offenses into the best in franchise history.

The Bucs gained more than 500 yards twice and averaged a team-record 375.9 yards per game, Doug Martin finished second to Adrian Peterson for the NFL rushing title, and Mike Evans had another big year receiving.

But that wasn't nearly enough to stop Tampa Bay from finishing last in its division for a NFC-record fifth consecutive season.

"I can't give myself a grade right now. I just know I have to get better," Winston said. "I didn't do what I wanted to do. I would have loved to lead this team to the playoffs, but I didn't do that this year. I have to get better."

The Bucs haven't earned a postseason berth since 2007, an eight-year drought that Winston and coach Lovie Smith expect to end in 2016.

The team overcame a slow start to climb into wild-card contention at 6-6, then closed on a four-game losing streak that prompted Winston to question some of his teammates' commitment to winning. The 21-year-old quarterback, who didn't single out anyone by name, said he's not concerned the comments might rub players the wrong way.

"Absolutely not, because the first person I called out was myself. I made that very clear," Winston said.

"The thing is, I just want to win. I know what we're capable of," the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner said. "We left so much on the table this year. ... At the end of the day, I just want everyone to better themselves."

Smith, who's 8-24 in two seasons as coach of the Bucs, reiterated his belief that the team is headed in the right direction.

He also was supportive of what Winston had to say about the importance of doing whatever necessary to end a cycle of losing. The

coach said Winston's first move was to approach him and ask what the young quarterback can do better moving forward.

"As he came to me, that's how our conversation went. ... Part of being a leader is to challenge everybody to raise their standards," Smith said.

"I don't muzzle Jameis at all, or any of our players. I want them to say what's on their mind and what they see," the coach added. "And as one of the leaders going forward, he needs to be vocal -- and more vocal -- in his role as our starting quarterback. ... When you're 6-10, we all need to do things differently, do things better."

Some things to know about the Bucs entering the offseason:

IMPROVED, BUT STILL NOT THERE -- For the first time, the Bucs ranked in the top 10 in total offense and defense. But finishing No. 5 offensively and No. 10 defensively was deceptive. The Bucs struggled to get the ball into the end zone, ranking 20th in points. They were 26th in scoring defense, allowing 24 or more 10 times.

PLAYOFFS OR BUST -- After progressing from two wins to six in his second year in Tampa, Smith expects the team to make the playoffs next season. "I'm saying it should," Smith said.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Winston's progress gives Buccaneers hope for future ."