Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston
Quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota embarked on different paths to get to the National Football League. Winston grew up in Alabama and after he was shunned by the University of Texas, he decided to attend Florida State University. Mariota grew up in Hawaii where he was a little known high school prospect that decided to attend the University of Oregon. Winston took the field as a redshirt freshman in 2013 and he took the college football world by storm in helping Florida State win the national title. And along the way, Winston would also win the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top football player that year. Mariota would be Oregon’s starting quarterback for the last three years as he would compile a record of 36-5. Last year Mariota would help Oregon get to the College Football Playoff Final and in the process he would follow Winston in winning the Heisman. Winston would finish his college career with just one loss, which came against Mariota in the Rose Bowl this past January.
Heading into the 2015 National Football League Draft, Winston and Mariota had easily separated themselves from the other quarterback prospects; it was just a matter of who would be the first player selected. Winston had the talent, but off-the-field issues plagued him heading into the draft evaluation process while there were questions surrounding Mariota in regards to his ability to adjust to a pro-style offense in the NFL as opposed to the spread offense that he operated in at Oregon.
The Tampa Bays Buccaneers entered the 2015 National Football League Draft with the first overall pick and they let the world know that Winston was their guy. The Tennessee Titans were picking immediately after the Buccaneers and they had no problem in settling on Mariota. And regardless of how unfair that it might seem, Winston and Mariota will forever be linked being that they were not only the first two quarterbacks selected this past spring, but also the first two picks of the draft.
It didn’t take that long for the comparison between Winston and Mariota to have another chapter added to it when the Buccaneers hosted the Titans to begin the National Football League season this past Sunday.
Mariota began the game extremely efficient for the Titans and he finished that way as he went 13-of-16 passing for 209 yards and 4 touchdowns as Tennessee was able to rout the Buccaneers 42-14. Winston on the other hand was 16-of-33 for 210 yards with a pair of touchdown passes while also being picked off twice. And Winston’s first professional pass was picked off by Titans defensive back Coty Sensabaugh who returned it for a touchdown. The end result was very shocking as most observers expected Winston to be the more polished quarterback being that he was already familiar with a pro-style offense from his time at Florida State while the Buccaneers were also the home team.
Sunday’s game was reminiscent of the Rose Bowl this past January when everything that could go wrong for Winston and Florida State did while Mariota was sitting on cloud nine as he could do no wrong just like he was in January which also marked the end of Winston’s college career. And with that the Winston haters are going to take Sunday’s performance and run with it as they’ll feel that the Bucs should have taken Mariota. But make no mistake about it that each team got the player that they feel is the right one for their respective organization. Mariota’s calm personality is perfect for the Titans and Nashville, Tennessee while the Bucs need a player like Winston that has the potential to turn into a vocal leader.
Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt has a history or working with quarterbacks and that has been a big part of getting Mariota adjusted to the professional game. Aside from Mariota’s athletic ability, he was able to get the football out quickly against the Buccaneers which is something that he did college in the spread offense. Winston still has some work to be done as he never appeared to get into a rhythm versus the Titans, but people must remember that it’s just one game for the youngster who has an immense level of talent. It was also one game for Mariota and you cannot expect him to play as good as he did either on each Sunday, but it was still a tremendous start to a career in the National Football League as the future is very bright for these youngsters.
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