If you look at this week's TV maps, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans are getting about as much coverage as you would expect for two teams coming off 2-14 seasons. The game is being shown in parts of Florida, all of Tennessee and most of Oregon, while most of the country watches Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
Titans vs. Buccaneers 2015 streaming: Time, TV schedule and how to watch live online
Marcus Mariota goes against Jameis Winston in a battle of the last two Heisman Trophy winners.
However, while not many people will have the game on their televisions, a lot of them will be paying attention for one big reason -- it will feature the NFL debuts of the last two Heisman Trophy winners, Tennessee's Marcus Mariota and Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston.
Obviously, with two rookie quarterbacks starting in Week 1, both defenses will be licking their chops. Winston probably faces the toughest test -- Titans defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has been in the league for 57 years as a Hall of Fame defensive back and one of the most innovative defensive coaches in league history.
Winston struggled badly when under pressure in the preseason, and no one knows more ways to bring pass rushers than LeBeau. He doesn’t usually bring a lot, but his zone blitzes mean there will be different rushers coming from different angles on every play. Veteran quarterbacks have had trouble reading LeBeau’s defenses since the 1970s, so Winston is going to be in way over his head.
That doesn't mean Mariota is going to have things easy. Bucs head coach Lovie Smith helped develop the Tampa 2 defense while serving as an assistant to Tony Dungy, helped the St. Louis Rams find enough defense to reach the Super Bowl under Mike Martz and built the Chicago Bears defense that carried Rex Grossman to a Super Bowl. His defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, played on Buddy Ryan's 46 Defense in Chicago and is a well-regarded coordinator.
Mariota also has to worry about Tampa Bay's Gerald McCoy coming right up the middle on every snap. The Buccaneers don't have a premier edge rusher, but players like McCoy and Ndamukong Suh have proven that a superstar defensive tackle can constantly disrupt a offensive scheme.
Winston will need a big game out of running back Doug Martin if he wants any chance of slowing down LeBeau's pass rush, but he also has to get an improved performance from the offensive line. They are going to have to give him time to throw and open holes for Martin if Tampa Bay is going to put up a reasonable number of points.
No one will have a more important role in that than another rookie, tackle Donovan Smith. He's going to be facing Brian Orakpo, who is fully recovered from the pectoral injury that ruined his last season in Washington. If Smith can keep Orakpo off Winston's blind side, the rookie might have a chance to put up some numbers. If the veteran wins the battle, Winston has a long day ahead.
These aren’t good teams, which is how they got Mariota and Winston in the first place, and there aren’t a lot of big playmakers ready to step in if the rookies don’t get the job done. Winston’s struggles against the pass rush aren’t going to be helped by LeBeau’s unconventional schemes, and his defenses rarely lose to rookie quarterbacks, but the good people at OddsShark tell us that Tampa Bay’s home-field advantage is enough to make them three-point favorites.
How to watch
When: 4:25 p.m. ET
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla.
Network: CBS
Announcers: Andrew Catalon, Steve Beuerlein, Steve Tasker
Online: NFL Game Pass
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