Buccaneers Max Unger Jersey , who not only are trying to get acclimated to having Jameis Winston back in the lineup, but need to find a way to fix a leaky defense.Coach Dirk Koetter made it official Monday, confirming Winston will start the team's next game — at Atlanta — on Oct. 14.The No. 1 overall pick from the 2015 draft missed the first three games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.Ryan Fitzpatrick became the first player in league history to throw for more than 400 yards in three consecutive games while leading the Bucs to a 2-2 start in Winston's absence.The "FitzMagic" show came to a screeching halt this past Sunday, when Tampa Bay fell behind Chicago by 35 points. Winston played the entire second half of the 48-10 loss."Fitz didn't play as well as he had been playing, but it was a 100 percent team deal," Koetter said, reiterating the Bucs were outplayed in every phase of the game."At the same time, Jameis Winston is the guy that's going to be here way longer than I am," the coach added. "He needs to be playing and he will unless he gets hurt."Meanwhile, Koetter stressed what he has no intentions of doing is firing defensive coordinator Mike Smith.The Bucs have allowed a NFL-high 139 points and rank near the bottom of the league in pass defense."For those people who think snapping your fingers and changing your coordinator a quarter of the way through the season, OK, what would you do after that? If we fired Mike Smith, what would the next move be?" Koetter said."Changing one person, when we had things go wrong at all levels (Sunday). ... We as coaches have got to coach better. That starts with me," Koetter added. "But Mike Smith didn't miss any tackles. He didn't not rush the passer. He didn't blow any coverages. He didn't have any communication errors."The decision to start Winston against the Falcons essentially has been the plan since Koetter learned in late June that Winston would miss the first three games "unless we were playing lights-out in a good way or lights-out in a bad way like (Sunday)."The coach reiterated Fitzpatrick, who's played for seven teams during a 14-year career, did a good job filling in for Winston."We brought Fitz here two years ago to be a mentor to Jameis and a guy who could fill in if Jameis was injured. Both times we asked him to fill in — a three-game stretch a year ago he went 2-1 and a four-game stretch he led us to 2-2 this year," Koetter said. "Job well done. In fact, excellent. I think any team in the league would take that."Fitzpatrick, 35, said he understands the move."What I said to my Dad after how Week 1 went, and Week 2 and Week 3, was basically ... either I'm going to win the NFL MVP this year or I'll be back on the bench at some point. That's just the reality of the situation," said Fitzpatrick, who's thrown for 1 Authentic Sheldon Rankins Jersey ,356 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions."It's not something I necessarily wanted to hear. ... But Jameis is back," Fitzpatrick added. "Jameis is the guy. He's the face of the franchise. He's going to do a great job." Sam Darnold appeared destined to go to Cleveland in the months leading up to the NFL draft.Then, the Browns called an audible along the way and went instead with Baker Mayfield at No. 1 overall. After the Giants took Saquon Barkley next, the New York Jets ended up with the quarterback they wanted all along and Darnold was headed to the Big Apple."I thought I could've been there or several other teams," Darnold said Monday. "I honestly haven't even thought about it since I got drafted by the Jets. With (Cleveland) having the (No.) 1 pick, I guess there was a good chance I might have gone there, so I was thinking about it before. But ever since the draft, I haven't thought about it."On Thursday night, Darnold will be in Cleveland. But as the enemy — and a reminder to Browns fans of who they might have had.Not that Darnold, who'll be making his third NFL start, has revenge or redemption on his mind."No, I'm just going to go out there and play ball," he said.Darnold has much more pressing matters at hand, such as trying to bounce back from a 20-12 loss to Miami on Sunday .The No. 3 overall pick struggled at times with some missed opportunities and mistakes, as did the rest of the Jets. But Darnold also had some positive moments, and at 21 years and 103 days old became the youngest player to throw for 300 yards. He finished with 334 yards passing with one touchdown and two interceptions."Other than the two picks, I thought I played pretty well," Darnold said. "So, I'm just going to continue to try to play as consistent as possible and find completions when I can and take shots when I can."Meanwhile, Mayfield hasn't yet taken a regular-season snap for the Browns with Tyrod Taylor as the starter. The former Oklahoma star is considered the future of the franchise for Cleveland — a label that appeared reserved for Darnold."I was excited to go anywhere," Darnold said. "Whoever wanted me, whoever wanted to pick me. As a top pick, it was a dream come true right when it happened. I wasn't concerned with who was picking me, but more with where I was going and where I might need to spend the next Youth Tyeler Davison Jersey , for now, three or four years."The Jets envision Darnold being around for a lot longer than that, and Thursday will serve as the next test — and step — in the young quarterback's development.The Browns are still winless since 2016, but they have a tie and a three-point loss through the first two games so they're no pushovers.Gregg Williams' defense has already caused problems for the likes of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and New Orleans' Drew Brees, and could be licking its chops to face a rookie at home in front of the Dawg Pound."First of all, I think his guys are ready to play every single game," Darnold said. "They come out fiery and at the same time, they bring pressures that, sometimes, no one's ever seen before. We're going to be ready. I'm focused on what we're doing, but also on what the defense is doing and how we can attack them."The Jets and Darnold will have to do a better job than they did for much of the game against the Dolphins. New York was just 3 of 10 on third downs, including 1 of 8 in the first half when it fell behind 20-0.This will be the third game in just 11 days for the Jets, no easy task for a rookie QB. Darnold recognizes that this week's preparation will be condensed even more than last week, when New York was coming off a Monday night game in the opener."It's a different challenge, something I haven't necessarily dealt with, but it's awesome," Darnold said. "It's just another challenge for this team and we're going to take it head on. Looking at Cleveland last night, it was moving on right after that game. We watched that game and then got right to Cleveland. Not the final score that we wanted. Obviously, we looked to come out of there with a win, but move on as fast as possible and get to Cleveland because it's a short turnaround."NOTES: TE Neal Sterling (concussion), S Marcus Maye (foot) and LB Josh Martin (concussion) did not practice, although it was more of a walkthrough session. LT Kelvin Beachum (foot) and LG James Carpenter (foot) were limited. ... Jets coach Todd Bowles said he liked what he saw from Mayfield while going through the draft process. "I thought he was he gritty," Bowles said. "Had a great workout when we worked him out. I think he's a tough player and he's going to be a good player." ... WR ArDarius Stewart returned from his two-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancers. The Jets have until 4 p.m. Wednesday to make a decision on whether to activate or release him.
