Week one of the NFL’s 2021 season just kicked off and all eyes are on one standout player who was recently named the successor to quarterback Drew Brees.
New Orleans QB Jameis Winston threw five touchdown passes Sunday, leading the Saints to a 38-3 opening-day blowout against the Green Bay Packers.
The match-up was scheduled to take place at the Superdome in New Orleans but was moved to Jacksonville, Florida, due to ongoing recovery efforts in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida.
Sunday’s game was the first for the Saints without the team’s longtime quarterback, Drew Brees, who retired in March.
Winston gave Brees credit for schooling him on “being efficient” at the game of football, yet the 27-year-old has also acknowledged God for teaching him humility.
During a 2019 interview with Sports Spectrum, Winston explained that his identity is not rooted in sports, rather in Jesus Christ who has taught him patience and how to persevere.
“I’ve been through ups and downs,” he said, “but one thing about me is I always knew that my identity wasn’t in football, that it wasn’t in baseball. I knew that my identity always has been in Christ.”
Winston continued, “All the glitz and glamour, all that, it didn’t really matter because I’m not doing this for, I’m doing it for God. I’m doing it for God’s pleasure. I’m not doing it for man’s pleasure or for my own fame. So I had to understand that, and once I made that commitment in November 2014, I knew that was just the beginning.”
Winston played football for Florida State University then signed on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 before getting picked up by the Saints in 2020. He received the Heisman Trophy in 2013, the ACC Athlete of the Year – Anthony J. McKevlin Award in 2014, and the Pepsi Next Rookie of the Year in 2016.
In a recent Instagram post, Winston shared a message from Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Whether or not his football career continues to thrive, Winston says he is sustained by God’s grace.
“He loves us no matter what. He is forgiving of us. His grace is so sufficient,” Winston said.
Winston will lead the Saints to Charlotte next Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
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