Mariota amazes in NFL debut, outduels Tampa’s Winston
When the NFL season opened recently, every football fan had to have just a little interest in the game between the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Sunshine State simply because it showcased May’s top two draft picks.
It featured Oregon grad and 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota of Tennessee (and No. 2 draft pick), and top pick Jameis Winston, the Florida State product, who was taken No. 1 overall by Lovie Smith and the Buccaneers.
As fate would have it, Mariota and Winston, who won the Heisman in 2013 and led the Seminoles to the last National Championship of the BCS Era, would start against each other.
The first game of any football season is always a journey into the unknown, so nobody could be sure what would happen; especially with two bad teams to hit the field with rookie quarterbacks. These two quarterbacks were two of the best in college football over the past two seasons, but were considered flawed by the draft experts.
Well, on this day it was Mariota who stole the show.
Mariota silenced naysayers —at least on one hot Central Florida afternoon. Mariota was 13-for-16 and threw for 209 yards and four touchdowns. He’ll long remember his NFL debut.
For Famous Jameis, it was a day to forget. Winston threw for two touchdowns after Mariota, who was named Offensive Player of the Week, and the Titans had already jumped out to a 35-0 lead.
Winston finished a respectable 18-for-33 with two scoring strikes. He threw for 218 yards and played the entire game (Mariota sat out the fourth quarter for Tennessee, which began 2015 with a 42-14 win). But Winston’s career couldn’t have started on a more sour note. He lofted a pair of interceptions, including one on his first-ever professional pass attempt that Titans defensive back Coty Sensabaugh (a Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett alum) promptly returned for a touchdown, giving Tennessee a 14-0 lead and setting the tone for the entire day.
It was a magical day for the Titans. And sure, it was only one game. Skeptics will say that Mariota can only go into a tailspin from here. But the former Oregon star proved that he could be effective under center after playing nearly his entire collegiate career in the shotgun in the Ducks’ spread option attack. He also proved that he could run and manage an NFL offense.
Granted, Tennessee will face better defenses as the campaign progresses and Lovie Smith’s Buccaneers are a mess, but it was a great day for Music City fans as Mariota officially became the new face of the franchise. Coach Ken Whisenhunt and Mariota couldn’t have scripted a better fairy tale beginning.
Time will tell if Mariota will win Rookie of the Year, but he was Rookie for a day.
Conversely, Winston’s nightmare won’t continue all season, will it?
Winston, like Mariota, is a precocious talent. But he was plagued by self-induced adversity (both on and off the field). He threw costly interceptions as he did in Tallahassee.
The final chapter of his NFL certainly hasn’t been written. Will he go down as one of the game’s top QB’s and have a long storied career? Or will he be like Ebby Calvin “Nuke” La Loosh from Bull Durham? An athlete with a “Million Dollar Arm and a Five-cent head?”
His checkered pass, that included suspensions and run-ins with the law, certainly lead you to believe he will be the latter (if he hasn’t grown up).
Meanwhile, Mariota, a quiet low-key Hawaiian who took care of his business in Eugene, also continues to be one of the good guys. His jersey is the top seller.
For one day, a nice guy didn’t finish last. Mariota, who undoubtedly shredded a porous defense, also got help from the rest of the league and court jester Rex Ryan. Ryan’s Bills beat the Colts while the Texans and Jaguars both opened 2015 with losses.
