Opening Day: Winston Vs. Mariota?
May 1st, 2015
The Bucs and Jameis will be judged on two standards
Your calendar already is circled for Sept. 13 at 4:25 p.m.
That’s opening day of the Jameis Winston era at the steamy Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway — maybe.
The Bucs will host the Tennessee Titans.
Lovie Smith, to nobody’s surprise, was unwilling to commit to making Jameis his No. 1 quarterback last night. Lovie quipped that he’d like Jameis to arrive in Tampa first.
Joe can’t blame Lovie on that. Let the kid throw a few balls in rookie minicamp next week first.
But it’s likely the Bucs will hand the rock to Jameis before training camp and let him take his lumps as the rookie team leader.
That brings Joe to Titans rookie QB Marcus Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick. At the NFL Owners meetings, Joe sat in front of Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt when he said he would make Mariota his Day 1 starter, if he drafted him.
Joe doesn’t care about Mariota at this point, but it sure would be great to see him square off against Jameis on opening day.
Heaven forbid the Bucs lose that game — to Mariota.
Like it or not, this Bucs regime will be graded, in part, on how Jameis compares to Mariota as a professional, not just the standings.
Tampa Bay fans will have a lot more patience if Jameis and the Bucs are, say, 6-10, and Mariota and the Titans are 4-12. The flip side would be the freakout if fans are comparing those 6-10 Bucs versus Mariota in the playoffs.
May 1st, 2015 at 8:57 am
My intuition says Mariota will be a way better NFL QB than Winston, but who knows at this point…. I’m definitely going to start following the Titans now, though, in addition to the Bucs. I might even startup JoeTitansfan.com
May 1st, 2015 at 8:59 am
GOOOOOD MORNING VIETTAMPA!!!
Well we have a shiny new QB without an OL
What now.
May 1st, 2015 at 8:59 am
As a rookie…Mariota will have the edge becuase of his foot speed
May 1st, 2015 at 9:02 am
Hopefully We get some good ones today
May 1st, 2015 at 9:08 am
that’s ridiculous….foot speed doesn’t give you more of an advantage over a pure pocket passer, just ask RG3 a guy who never threw more than 6 int’s in college
May 1st, 2015 at 9:09 am
Unfortunately, Mariota can’t start practice until June so Winston will have that edge in building a rapport with receivers and oline.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:15 am
the schedule makers screwed this us….this would have been a much better matchup later in the season, who knows if either of these guys will truly be starting on opening day. advantage to bucs, I think we have the better team right this very moment
May 1st, 2015 at 9:17 am
#Winston’Stevenage
He’s going to destroy Mariota or whomever is playing qb for the titans
May 1st, 2015 at 9:22 am
Glennon with destroy MariOtoe
May 1st, 2015 at 9:24 am
time will tell about their careers, but i’d expect this game to make JW look like the better prospect. he is making a smaller transition and has way more talent at the skill positions. I think with the simplicity of our scheme we won’t make him look as bad as a team like Blitzburgh might, but he’ll still be very new at huddling, getting the play to his teammates, dropping back after getting the ball from under center, and working with 5 fewer yards between him and the d line.
what’s the over\under on the number of times, in the heat of battle, mariota accidentally looks to the sideline for the next play expecting to see giant cardboard signs with cartoon characters?
May 1st, 2015 at 9:25 am
Titans in the playoffs next year? Hilarious.
Almost as funny as Jameis’ Instagram picture last night.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:30 am
#3
May 1st, 2015 at 9:41 am
Have we ever beaten a team that starts a new qb or a back up?
May 1st, 2015 at 9:44 am
I do not know why but this pick doesn’t feel right hope im wrong but I do not like this pick I think the bucs just lost some fans today
May 1st, 2015 at 9:45 am
Why did Jameis change from #5 to #3……is the question I’d like to ask ????
dig Joe dig !
May 1st, 2015 at 9:46 am
JoeJoes Fungi Nails Says:
May 1st, 2015 at 9:22 am
Glennon with destroy MariOtoe
Ha. How in the world does the NFL Commissioner mispronounce Mariota’s name. First of all, it’s not a difficult name to pronounce and secondly you knew he was a top 10 pick so you should have been prepared. That’s embarrassing.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:47 am
Because #3 was his high school number. EJ Manuel was #3 so he had to choose another number
May 1st, 2015 at 9:47 am
Can’t wait for that game. Regardless of who wins, I’m smart enough to not judge either player off of one game. I do expect Mariota to play pretty well out of the gate. Running qb’s as of late tend to do very well initially (vince Young, Kaepernick, RG3), but tend to slow down once defenses catch up to them. However, I also expect Jameis to be pretty good right away too. Go Bucs!
May 1st, 2015 at 9:48 am
Everyone wants to act like Mariota is somebody special… He has major bust potential.
Winston put up amazing numbers in a pro style system and never even played a down of Spring Ball. If Mariota is such a hard worker, why is Jameis smarter on the board and never even had an off-season?
Jameis is better now and still has so much room to grow, more than Mariota.
We have no idea how mariota will fair turning his back to a defense in playaction from under center. Some people can do it and some people can’t.
Jameis should’ve been the guy and will be the guy.
Name one spread QB that has maintained success in the NFL… I’ll wait!
May 1st, 2015 at 9:49 am
@chickster – Have you seen the stands on Sundays? It’s not like they had a ton of fans that were invested in the team. They went with the player that would bring wins because wins brings in the fans. The people who are no longer a fan of the team based on a moral agenda are an easy sacrifice when you weigh that against potentially filling the house because we have a team that’s a winner
May 1st, 2015 at 9:50 am
C’mon winston! Please outplay mariota in the way Freeman couldn’t outplay geno or mccown couldn’t outplay Anderson in week 1! My measure of success for this game is, unlike the last 2 years I don’t have my hand on my face by the 3rd quarter thinking “we’ll f ck, it’s gonna be another one of those seasons”
May 1st, 2015 at 9:52 am
@Hawaiian – I don’t know if Mariota will do all that well in the first game if they trotted him out there. I think that as long as we apply the Vick formula to him and have LVD shadow him all game, a la Brooks on Vick, and force him to stay in the pocket and throw then he should be easy to pick apart, given that the game will be on fast forward for him.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:52 am
Outside the two team’s fanbase’s, this regular season opener might be the toilet bowl. The NFL would have done well to feature this duo on the first Sunday or Monday night game. How could they miss out on the past two Heisman winners and the top two picks drafted?
May 1st, 2015 at 9:54 am
Gee, what was Russell’s number? Glad to hear the ‘shame-us’ supporters are happy. Will the Bucs be eating crab legs or crow in 3 years? I hope I am the one eating crow, otherwise the team will be looking for a new coach and ANOTHER QB! Only time will tell.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:56 am
Wow its funny to listen to Winstonites.Hopefully it works out but in general hope both these qbs are successful not only on the field but ofoff.Now it’s time to put the 24 hour survelence on our boy winston
May 1st, 2015 at 9:56 am
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Eagles offered the following to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first pick in the draft: the 20th pick in this year’s draft; Philly’s first-round pick in 2016; quarterback Sam Bradford; and another player on the roster.
May 1st, 2015 at 9:57 am
he said “as a rookie”.
I might even tend to agree with him. RG3 was great his rookie year until the OC and headcoach tried to reel him in and make him more of a pocket passer.
That being said, Tampa has a much better overall team and talent than the Titans.
May 1st, 2015 at 10:36 am
Well I just hope the Bucs win the ****ing game and end this insanely long home losing streak. Chances are the Bucs won’t see Mariota doing anything but holding a clipboard that Sunday….. I’ll take a nice 17-10 win with the D shutting down Mettenberger… Just win the ****ing game Lovie!
BTW PortRicheyGeorge: that offer for the Bucs first rounder seems light by a couple of high draft picks, it seems light also for the Titans pick when you think how much the Deadskins gave up for RG3 with the Lambs and they only moved down from 2 to 6 not down to 20; if either team did that deal they would be vilified for a long, long time as if it would not take BSPN very much to pile on either franchise…..
May 1st, 2015 at 10:49 am
Pat your right I need to stay positive with it we have allways done well with fl st picks
May 1st, 2015 at 10:50 am
You people keep forgetting that no matter how Porky Jamarcus Winston plays or not, the Buc’s still have Lovie Smith as the HC who intentionally lost the Saints game in 2014 to go 2-14 and get the #1 pick (not the #1 QB) but now that Joe has resigned officially from the Glennon mob (flip flopper) we can see if Jamarcus Winston can do another move like he did in the playoff game against Mariotta!! Probably the funniest thing since the butt fumble!
The sad part is that Team Glazer did not have the courage to fire Lovie Smith after that 2-14 stinker he dropped on Tampa Bay last season! Mark my words…they only delayed the inevitable and if they think that Porky Winston adds value to this team, they are as misguided as the Winston Mob!
Titans have already stated they will start Mariotta in game 1 and have confidence they got the best QB! Of course, HC Lovie (who the he!! names a man Lovie) Smith in his cockiest Jamarcus Winston imitation showed his confidence in Porky Winston to throw 5 interceptions in the first game of the season!
Fire Lovie Smith now!
May 1st, 2015 at 10:56 am
@ Erik the WiseMMan
Yes watch them closely,…and when the time comes…pay the piper.
David 1 Erik 0
May 1st, 2015 at 11:12 am
This will be like the Suh vs McCoy draft. These two guys will always be linked together and compared. I think both guys will be just fine, hopefully Winston is just a little bit better…going to be cool to see how everything plays out over the next few years either way.
May 1st, 2015 at 12:06 pm
Opening line already is going to be like Tampa -3.5 or Tampa -3
May 1st, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Just think back to how our defence made EJ look last season. We gone kill marita week one next season.
May 1st, 2015 at 1:45 pm
Dirk Koetter is smiling real big today!
May 6th, 2015 at 10:07 pm
my last remark on this as I have to accept the bucs draft but as for me…Winston was to sell tkts..he was not the best qb in the draft… How many teams wanted M.M. and what teams outside of Florida thought Winston was worthy of the 1st pick?