NEW ORLEANS — After Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston's inauspicious debut, it's an open question how he'll perform in his second NFL game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday in the Superdome. And where better to seek an answer about the rookie's chances than among the keen analysts congregating on Bourbon Street on a Saturday night?
"I'm going to go with two interceptions, a fumble and maybe four sacks," said Alvin Smith, in from Shreveport for the game.
Smith and his crew strode the famous boulevard holding Resurrections, the new hit rum cocktail served in a mug with a blue strobelight.
Ryan Moore, in from Mobile and wearing a white dress over his shirtless torso, clutched a whiskey and coke and echoed Smith's take. "He'll throw about two or three picks," Moore said. "Winston doesn't know how to play pro football."
Certainly that knowledge seemed, say, unlearned when Winston, the top overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, took the field for his first game last Sunday against Tennessee. Going up against fellow Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota – a quarterback some thought the Buccaneers should have taken No. 1 – Winston struggled. His first professional pass turned into a pick-six and he finished 16 of 33 for 210 yards in a 42-14 loss.
Winston did toss a pair of touchdowns to go with his two interceptions, and it was that positive Justin Kaminsky chose to highlight.
"He'll play better quarterback than he played last week; he'll bounce back," Kaminsky said boldly.
True, Kaminsky's boldness may have been bolstered by the "10 plus beers" he copped to consuming Saturday. Or perhaps it was the "Winston" t-shirt the Tampa Bay resident visiting New Orleans for the game sported on Bourbon Street.
Diehard Saints fans seemed more concerned about their own team's defense than Winston. The Saints dropped their opener 31-19 on the road at Arizona.
"If (Winston) throws an interception against us then he's really doing bad," said John Harper, clad in a Drew Brees jersey, who confessed to gulping "only" his third big beer because "I just got here."
Houston's John Jean, a former Opelousas resident who's kept his Saints season tickets, came to the same conclusion as Harper. "I think he'll have a good game," Jean said of Winston. "The Saints secondary just isn't that good."
Starting out a pub crawl with a brace of cocktails and outfits that might stand out in most American cities, Saints fans David Bigger and Joe Maynard offered conflicting analysis of Winston's chances.
"We are ridiculously overrated," Maynard said, reaching under his white lingerie slip for his wallet. "He'll probably only throw three or four interceptions."
Bigger, in a white priest robe and black top hat, thought otherwise.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say no," he replied, when asked if he agreed with Maynard's figures.
Larry Poole provided perhaps the clearest take. Poole was working at the Royal Orleans Hotel and only an observer to the pregame festivities in this early NFC South matchup.
Winston's "going to do well," he said. "He had a rocky start, and he has such big expectations, but he owes it to himself and I think he'll bounce back."
