Disastrous debut for Winston in every way Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 14 September 2015 Seige the smelling salts. You get to throw your first NFL pass once. It’s always going to be your first NFL pass. That’s how it works. History will forever show that Jameis Winston’s first NFL pass went for a score, while Marcus Mariota took three whole passes to throw for one. Yeah, yeah, you can be a stickler for details and mention that both throws produced Tennessee Titans touchdowns in a thundering 42-14 season-opening Bucs loss. Go ahead. Be like that. Maybe there will come a day, before a Pro Bowl or a playoff game, when Winston and the Bucs will laugh about Sunday’s nightmare. “Hey, J, remember throwing that pick first NFL pass?” Maybe not. They weren’t laughing Sunday. Winston, his teammates and coaches were roundly booed and rightly so. It’s going to take a while for them to get rid of this stink. Try a carpet cleaner. Maybe we should look on the bright side. Did you know that Doug Williams’ second NFL pass as a Buccaneer was intercepted and returned for a touchdown? Did you know that Brett Favre’s first NFL pass was taken back for a score? Did you know that Abraham Lincoln’s first pass was an interception? Did you know that George Washington threw a pass that crossed the Delaware, only to be picked off. Washington could not tell a lie. He said he never saw the safety cheating over. One of the preceding paragraphs is exactly true. Back to Sunday. It was an unmitigated disaster and the No. 1 pick threw the pick-six to set the hapless tone, instantly digging a 14-0 hole. The onslaught was on. So was the doomsday scenario. It would have been bad enough if Winston and the Bucs had been awful by themselves. But the other guy was here. Marcus, the one the Bucs didn’t pick. And he was glorious. There was all that draft mockery, the unforgiving split screen: No. 1 Jameis and his two interceptions, lousy completion rate and puny quarterback rating lying in the long shadow of No. 2, who was as perfect as perfect can be: 13 of 16, four TD touchdown passes, the first rookie quarterback since 1960 to score a perfect 158.3 in an opener. It was as if the Rose Bowl never ended. It was so bad that Mariota was lifted after three quarters. He must have felt like he was back at Oregon. Jameis is a long way from Florida State. He’s a long way from a lot of things. As Bucs fans left the stadium Sunday, early and often, how many of them must have said or thought, “Should have taken Marcus.” How many Should Have Taken Marcus games does Jameis have left in him? Hindsight will be throwing tailgate parties until he does something about it. “We have the guy who’s perfect for us going forward,” coach Lovie Smith said. Three snaps into his career, Winston telegraphed a ball to the left side and the indomitable Adam Humphries, only to have it taken back by Tennessee cornerback Coty Sensabaugh. “Just a bad decision,” Winston said. “...That first drive just killed us.” This just a couple of plays after Mariota’s second completion in the league was a 52-yard touchdown less than two minutes in. That’s how his first drive went. Yes, it was one game. And it was Jameis’ first game. Did we mention that the Bucs defense was a lot worse than Jameis? Or that the Bucs offensive line is putrid? Or that Smith and his staff didn’t have this team ready to play and were completely outcoached by Tennessee, all those wide open no-name receivers Mariota kept finding — and hitting? It was Jameis’ first game, not Lovie’s. And Jameis did throw a pair of touchdowns. Plus he doesn’t have to play Marcus anymore this season. Jameis is 26-0 against the rest of the world, but has now lost two in a row to Marcus from Krypton. Back to Jameis. “I can’t perform like that in the home opener,” he said. “But we will get better. I will perform better.” As if it can get worse. Actually, it can, even before it gets better.