Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston held his first weekly press conference of the season on Thursday as he will each week. PewterReport.com will provide a full transcript every week. Here is what Winston had to say on Thursday from One Buc Place.

(On how difficult it was watching other teams play week 1)
“I went through a tough time watching. But, I really wasn’t thinking about myself. I was thinking about what we were going through. I was thinking about what the people in Florida were going through, and what the people in Houston were going through. At the end of the day everything is bigger than football. Obviously, I wanted to be out on the field. I definitely wanted to be playing. Sometimes you have to take a backseat and let things happen.”

(On if he has any plans to provide aide to the community)
“I have a few things planned to help those in need. Like I said, it’s bigger than football. You will probably hear about it shortly.”

(On where he stayed during the storm)
“I went back home.”

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

(On what it was like going through the storm)
“For me, it was just making sure my family was safe. Other than that, I was truly concerned about everyone else’s safety. I know that we are privileged to play this great game of football. I was blessed to be able to get my family out and back home. At the end of the day, my thoughts and prayers were with everyone that could possibly be affected by it. It’s bigger than me.”

(On if it was hard being away from Tampa during storm)
“I was prepared to bunker down, but at the end of the day, like a lot of Floridians, I was concerned about safety. Probably the best bet was to get out of here. Those who weren’t able to make it, my thoughts and prayers were with them. One person in particular, Bernard Reedy, I told him, ‘hey man, I’m leaving my house. If you and your family need to come to my house- I don’t know that’s going on in St. Pete, but if you need this, you are welcome to stay at my house.’ While I was leaving I was trying to reach out to guys who were staying and planning on bunkering down.”

(On what he did to reach out)
“I sent out a video on my social media pages. I was just sending out prayers and thoughts. Just showing the people in Tampa and Florida that they were not alone, that we were thinking about them and hoping for their safety.”

(On the first team coming back to play on Sunday after 22 days)
“There are none (excuses). That’s the fun part about everything. We have to overcome adversity. This is bigger than us. At the end of the day, no one really cares about us missing 22 days or our starters not playing games. Our job is to come in here and play football. That’s all.”

(On getting back into the mentality of playing football)
“Watching football this whole break. I was anxious to play, there was just bigger things at hand. Football is not just going to venture off my mind. I always plan on preparing. When I was home I was preparing. I was preparing to play this game.”

(On what he expects the atmosphere to be like at home after the storm)
“I expect it to be electric. These fans need something. They need a giddy up. I’m happy, especially with last year and us finishing strong at home, the fans saw how their involvement with crowd noise and how electric Raymond James was. Hopefully it can be the same. Hopefully we can all just have a great Sunday and be excited about Tampa Bay Buccaneers Football.”

(On what his message was to the team coming back)
“It’s time to play. It was simple. In situations like that, it was no big rah rah thing. ‘Was your family safe? Do you have power? If any of you guys are doing something to help, let me know. I’m willing assist.’ It’s time for us to play.”

Bucs TE Cameron Brate – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

(On what problems the Bear defense pose)
“They have a very good defense, first in foremost. They play a lot of man on third downs. Third and medium in particular. Our main thing is that we can’t beat ourselves. We know that Chicago played a great game against Atlanta. They had many opportunities to win the game. Every game is a big game for us. We have to treat this game like our biggest game. We can’t treat this game with excuses in our back pocket.”

(On how barely missing the playoffs taught this team that every game is critical)
“Not just missing the playoffs, but losing in general. We take so much pride in taking advantage of every opportunity that we get. Sometimes we get hit in the face when we lose, then when you go back and look at the film you see, ‘oh, I could have done this to help us get better.’ Like I said, our goal as a team is to get better every single day. If we are doing what we need to do to get better every day, we should have no problems on Sundays.”

(On the benefits of the Hard Knocks experience)
“It meant a lot to this organization that we were able to put our brand out there and show the world what great things we have going on in this building. Fans need that sense of realness from our players. Most of the time, fans get that from media and they don’t get to go in depth into a players life. I think Hard Knocks did a great job of showing our high character guys. We have some great men on this football team. Being on that bright stage and having cameras around all the time gave some people on this team a great opportunity to showcase who they really are. It meant a lot to me because of the positive feedback we got as an organization. I have a quarter back mentality. If everyone else is happy, I’m happy. I’m looking for ways to try to get better.”

(On him telling DeShone Kizer he was a risk taker and if that will always be his style of play)
“I told him that because I personally believe that DeShone Kizer is a good quarterback. Just seeing him play I saw that talent he has as far as arm strength and decision making. It was very impressive. I saw myself, he has a way better arm than me, probably. I had to tell him, ‘look, it’s your rookie year. Be patient.’ I wish a player would have told me to be patient. He can kind of put himself in my shoes and I can put myself in his shoes. I’m just trying to help him out a little bit.”

(On if his patience has gotten better every year)
“Change is good at times, and I’m working on my patience. You are who you are. Ali shared this quote. It was a Dr. Seuss quote. ‘Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.’ That really stuck with me. We are all our individual selves and no one can be more us than us.”

(On him learning from mistakes in first two years)
“I’ve learned that winning is more important than anything. Most of those turnovers were me trying to do too much, or me trying to be the hero. This is a team game. With the weapons we have now, we can take advantage of every opportunity that we get. I’m getting better every single day. I’m not perfect and no one in here is. It’s exciting to get things started and take things that you learned in the off season and lace ‘em up and play.”

(On how being coached hard has helped him thrive)
“I look at it as a father-son perspective. That’s the relationship I had with Coach Fisher at Florida State. He was harder on me than anybody else. I think, as a head coach, you have to be able to count on certain guys for the team to be successful. I just want to be able to be the person that is held accountable for everything. I’m already a quarterback and quarterbacks get scrutinized for the most things. Even if they throw three picks, if they win, he played a good game. I want to be the person that gets yelled at in front of teammates to make them feel better. They can say, ‘ Ok, our quarterback is getting yelled at too.’ I think that helps with guys. All that is is adversity in the moment. You’re getting yelled at, but your coach won’t be on the field when you are playing the game. When you have the moment in practice, more often than in a game, because coach Koetter in a game is more laid back then anybody and he is ready to play.”

Bucs QB Mike Glennon – Photo by: Getty Images

(On if he has talked to Mike Glennon)
“I haven’t talked with Glizzy. I’m excited for him. I’m happy he gets to come to Tampa and play. Hopefully he does well, but not well enough to beat us.”

(On if the team could be too amped up to play this game)
“I don’t think that is a problem. I think that is a good thing. The wait is finally over. Football is back for the Buccaneers. We just want to be a pick-me-up for the city and hopefully we can do that on Sunday.”

(On is there is a different feeling entering this season)
“Every year is a different feeling, but it is the same goal. That goal is to win football games, make it to the playoffs, and ultimately win the Super Bowl.”

– Austin DeWitt transcribed this report