Buccaneers' Koetter: Winston 'made a mistake,' owned up to it

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made their first public comments on quarterback Jameis Winston's speaking engagement last week with Tampa Bay-area schoolchildren.

In an attempt to rally some inattentive children in the crowd, Winston implored the boys to stand up and "the ladies, sit down." He went on to say ladies are supposed to be silent. Winston later apologized for the address, copping to "poor word choice."

"Anyone who knows Jameis Winston knows that when Jameis gets up in the morning, he's trying to do good things out there, whether it be improve himself, help our team get better, or do something good in the community. Obviously with the situation at the school last week, in the midst of a school presentation, he made a mistake and he owned up to that mistake," head coach Dirk Koetter said Wednesday at the scouting combine.

"He's 23 years old. Anyone who has to stand behind a microphone and talk to a group of people, you're going to make mistakes from time to time."

The coach spoke of how impressed he's been with Winston and how he's handled himself both on and off the field in his first two years in the league.

"Jameis continues to exceed expectations as the face of our franchise, every single day. We couldn't be happier with Jameis," Koetter said.

"What Jameis Winston has done in his first two years - the number of appearances he's made, the number of times he's spoken in front of the media, spoke to kids - that guy is fantastic. Jameis amazes me every single day with the maturity he has for his age."