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Jameis Winston reveals the inspirational message that changed the Bucs' season

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:59 p.m. ET

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Dan Graf

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the season with high hopes that they could continue to improve with a young roster, but by the time they hit Week 5 it was clear that wasn’t happening.

Tampa Bay was 1-3 and had suffered blowout losses to both the Cardinals and Broncos. But that’s when quarterback Jameis Winston delivered a message to the locker room that an attitude adjustment was needed, and Tampa Bay is 4-2 since – culminating with their most impressive win of the season Sunday against a Kansas City Chiefs team that had won five straight.

FOX Sports sideline reporter Laura Okmin asked Winston after Sunday’s game what he told his teammates that has made such a difference.

“The message was, think about when we played football for fun," Winston says in the video above. "Not as a professional. … Football got us here. We didn’t come here as professionals. We came here as football players. We were blessed by the man above, and we just overcame a lot. So we’ve gotta keep fighting and we’ve gotta get better every single day.”

That plan seems to be working, as the Bucs have improved to 5-5 and are just one game behind the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South.

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