“Their coach did a better job coaching their football team than I did today”. Around Raymond James Stadium the last few years, the days haven’t been that great, either. The game ended in a surprising route which saw Tennessee depart Tampa, Florida with a 42-14 victory, and it may have been more convincing than the scoreline indicated.
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Keep saying this statement: it’s just one game.
The Titans, who didn’t score more than 28 in any game last season, scored on four of five possessions in the opening half. Not once have Lovie and his Bucs walked into the RayJay tunnel at the end of the game as winners. From a wildly entertaining season opener between the Patriots and Steelers on Thursday to the craziness of Sunday and Monday evening, the slate was nothing short of captivating, and with that, there is plenty to evaluate. Mariota went 13 of 16 with no interceptions.
The Bucs appeared to come out of their season-opening loss relatively healthy.
The Bucs trailed the Titans 35-7 going into halftime and all hope was essentially lost. Other than rookie Ali Marpet, no one else on that line played well and Marpet had his moments as well. A television graphic, flashed on the screen at the end of the third quarter, told every reactionary Buc fan that perhaps the team had made the wrong choice.
PASSING OFFENSE: A-plus – Marcus Mariota showed he was far more advanced than fellow rookie Jameis Winston on Sunday, looking like a polished veteran with four TD passes to four different receivers and a flawless passer rating of 158.3 to begin his pro career.
Winston completed 16-of-33 passes for 210 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Not so flawless. Changing the channel didn’t change the disparity. It remains to be seen if Mariota’s game will fully translate at the National Football League level, but the former Heisman Trophy victor looked the part of a high-end professional quarterback in Week 1. The first in the Rose Bowl last season, the second on Sunday in a blowout loss.
Don’t think Mariota was flawless. “But it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish”. Teams prepare for weeks for their first opponent. They held the Bucs offense in check for most of the day. Zach Brown played his best game as a Titan and recorded 6 solo tackles and an assist. “It’s one game, it’s something to learn from”.
“I’d say that their quarterback played better today”, Smith said when the inevitable Mariota-Winston question popped up.
“It’s just one game”, he said. “This is a whole new team”.
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In this space each week, we will take a snapshot of what took place on the field by handing out some hardware. He selected everyone else. “There’s no way we’re going to miss it”, said Bucs fan Joe Lawless. Now, it’s 30-71. The Panthers’ best defender, Luke Kuechly, suffered a concussion and a goodly number of dropped passes and some wasted big-play opportunities reminded them of how much they will miss the injured Kelvin Benjamin. He had his fair share of misery, but so did the defense, which got gashed in the running game and couldn’t cover anyone Sunday afternoon.
