The first two picks in the 2015 NFL Draft will always be compared against one another and so the first meeting between Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota in Week 1 meant those comparisons came in floods. That tilt undoubtedly went in favor of Mariota, but the No. 1 pick earned some redemption with a strong showing in a win against the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.
Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are rookies who are going to play like rookies
Winston bounced back with a strong Week 2 showing, while Mariota came back down to Earth with four fumbles against the Browns.
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After completing fewer than 50 percent of his passes and throwing two interceptions against the Tennessee Titans last week, Winston led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 26-19 victory on Sunday. He was much more efficient this time around, avoiding interceptions altogether and completing 14 of 21 passes for 207 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson just before halftime and a 1-yard touchdown run of his own.
It wasn’t prolific, but it was a mostly mistake-free day for Winston and that’s all Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith is hoping for from the rookie. Via Pat Yasinskas of ESPN:
“It’s going to come down to the quarterback being accurate throwing the football,” Smith said. “It’s as simple as that. Making good decisions and being able to place the ball. Jameis was in control throughout. It was a good comeback effort by a rookie quarterback.”
Things went in the opposite direction for Mariota. He followed up his heroic first half performance against the Buccaneers by struggling to get going against the Cleveland Browns early on Sunday.
Mariota entered Week 2 with a perfect passer rating thanks to four touchdown passes against Tampa Bay, which all came in the first half of a 42-14 victory. The Titans finished the first half scoreless against Cleveland and, while Mariota managed to rally the Titans with two second half touchdowns, it was too little, too late.
Ultimately, the final stats for Mariota were relatively strong. He finished 21-of-37 passing with 257 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. However, a better summary of his day came when he lost his shoe, helmet and the football all on one play.
That was one of four fumbles for Mariota, who also had an interception nullified by an illegal hands to the face penalty. To his credit, the Cleveland Browns kept things complicated and threw as many different defensive looks as possible at the rookie, outside linebacker Paul Kruger told Tom Reed of Cleveland.com.
“(Mariota) has shown that he can be a great player in the league, but he is young,” Kruger said. “We wanted to be able to put him in those situations where he had to get hit when he wasn’t looking and give him looks that he probably hadn’t seen before.”
Make no mistake, it wasn’t a disastrous day for Mariota nor was it a perfect one from Winston. A fourth-quarter fumble by Winston opened the door for the Saints late and Mariota still finished with a stellar 96.3 passer rating, behind a 114.6 for Winston, which is more than enough reason for both teams to be optimistic about the young passers.
Up next for Mariota is his home debut at Nissan Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, while Winston will be on the road again, this time facing the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.
Knowing what to expect from Winston and Mariota in those games is tough. Rookies are going to be rookies and that means taking the good with the bad and living with the inconsistencies that come with the adjustment to the NFL.
For talented rookies like Winston and Mariota, there have been plenty of positives so far, but both have had some speed bumps early in their NFL careers, too.
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