The Great Debate Preseason Week 1
Mariota v Winston (IBS Yeezus review)
A lot of fuss was made about the debuts of the Top 2 draft picks from the 2015 class. Much like a presidential race the NFL has been split in some corners of the country into a great debate: Who will be better Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston?
It didn’t take long for everyone to chime in with their opinions on the debuts of rookie QBs. Team Mariota left week 1 optimistic and upbeat while bashing Team Winston for what they deemed a sign of things yet to come, negatively of course. Team Winston was resilient and as expected when one is not ready to admit defeat, left promising the best was yet to come. I consider myself neutral, although I have been on record “slandering” Mariota and I am a Florida State fan….such things don’t come into play when analyzing the game. If you’re good, well you’re just good. And if you’re bad, even if I like you a lot, I can’t stand behind that in a serious manner. So to quell some of the expectations and comments I deemed to be a tad bit premature and bias, I decided to look deeper than the statistics and take a play by play analysis of each players week 1 performance. Don’t worry I’m not going to take you through the entire two games.
Marcus Mariota analysis
Marcus had quite the game in his preseason debut. At one point after having given up an interception and fumbled the ball Mariota was spotted on the sideline laughing with his coach. I could imagine the comment “ well it’s just preseason and it can’t’ get any worse so go out and just relax” was made from Coach Whisenhunt.
I counted exactly 19 plays for Mr. Mariota in his debut. He finished 7/8 with 96 yards and surprisingly no rushing yards. As you would expect most of his plays were taken out of the shotgun formation. As a matter of fact his first time being sacked as a pro was from under center. Mariota’s legendary scrambling ability had the defense on edge early as his first completion came off the play action. The defense was probably anticipating a read option as that seems to be the go to play for mobile QBs in today’s game however Mariota’s first NFL completion was on the simplest plays. A play action with him rolling to his right and dumping the ball off to the open receiver who ran a quick whip route. You couldn’t draw up a better play than that to ease a rookie into the NFL game.
The next play was out of a 5 wide set something that Mariota is probably comfortable with in regards to the spacing it gives the offense. This play is good to note because it showed Mariota’s ability to not only throw timing routes ( he hit fasano on a beautiful 4-5 yard out that was well timed) but also his touch. The TE came off the line to run an out and before his head was even around Mariota had let the ball go. Fasano easily located the pass and was able to catch and secure it in the window of the Falcons zone, thanks to Mariota’s touch. The linebacker pursuing him was unable to get a hand across the big TE’s body and this equated to a perfect pass in that situation.
So what didn’t I like?
Mariota showed signs of”positional immaturity” early on. In his first snap from under center Marcus had a nice play action set up. He stared down the right side of the field waiting for the routes to develop, not sensing the back side pressure that was apparent from the snap of the ball. Even worse on this play is that the fullback was WIDE open the entire time. When the left side collapsed Marcus froze up anticipating a hit rather than looking down field, or trying to extend the play with his legs. The result was luckily just a sack for a loss. I didn’t like the fact that I did not get to see Mariota run at all this game. I would hate for him to fall prey to the identity crisis that has plagued so many athletic quarterbacks throughout the evolution of the position. However I am, in the same breath, optimistic that his mental game is very strong as he was able to come out after an interception AND a fumble. He even showed a lot more velocity on his passes than many people were giving him credit for. The bounce back from the turnovers I think was a huge positive if you are the titans. Mariota’s sample size wasn’t quite as large as Winston’s but I think that just shows the confidence the staff has in him to be the guy to run the offense.
Most glaring weakness: Pocket presence/awareness, and progressions
Biggest Asset: mental toughness
Overall Grade of performance: B-
Jameis Winston Analysis
Winston may or may not (depending on who’s side you are on) have the higher expectations of the two men. I can’t really say if that is fair or not however when you are drafted as the #1 pick you are expected to make an instant impact no matter the position. Quarterback is obviously the hardest position to do that in, but that’s what you sign up for when you declare after winning a Heisman and a national championship.
With that being said I think the most obvious analysis to make when looking at Jameis Winston’s first preseason game is that no matter what he does, he will not achieve the instant success that he is accustomed to from his Florida State days. I will give him credit for entering the game with all the dressings of a good quarterback. He had line audibles and a no-huddle offense. Other than that, it just didn’t go quite as well as the Mariota debut. And that’s not to say Jameis is awful because when you break it down its not all bad, again it’s just not as good as Mariota.
Keep in mind that this is just week 1 but the Tampa Bay Bucs as a unit just looked bad. The Titans in comparison seemed a lot more polished. Winston and his receivers did not seem to be on the same page as throws were sometimes behind guys, heck even Winston and his centers didn’t seem to be on the same page. All off season since the OTAs we have heard about how Winston was getting the playbook down and how he was running the offense. This is a prime example of actions speaking louder than words. If Winston is running the offense so well were the first four plays run plays? His first pass was on the 5th play that was incomplete. His first 5 pass attempts read like this :0-3 with a sack and a scramble for 5 yards. Hardly the stats you expect from someone with such a great grasp of the offense. However, through all of the early play hiccups Winston’s first completion came on a play that displayed the talents that have Bucs fans excited about their future.
On the 11th offensive play of the day (yes 11) Winston stood in the pocket under some serious heat and threw a beautiful 40 yard pass to Vincent Jackson, who looked as though he underestimated Winston’s arm strength and had to kick it in gear to dive for the catch.
All the things I said about Mariota and how the lack of sample size kind of renforces the confidence that the Titans have in him, well that’s the opposite to me for Winston. Jameis was out on the field for 33 plays ( 34th was a spike and 35th a hail mary to end the half). I just got the feeling they were waiting for something spectacular to happen to make them take him out. But he just never quite got going.
So what didn’t I like?
The play calling. The bucs ran this game like a realistic game. That’s great if you had a seasoned quarterback but you have a rookie and they failed to put him in situations early in the game where he could make easy throws. The bucs receivers didn’t help much either on some passes as they seemed less than eager to catch through the contact of an amped Minnesota secondary.
Jameis had his moments, completing a string of passes on a nice drive in the 2nd quarter that resulted in him running in for a touchdown, but there just wasn’t enough of it to keep one from siding with the naysayers at this moment. Jameis was amazingly poised for a rookie in the pocket, making quite a few of his completions while being hit or with guys around his knees. He showed the ability to dodge tackles and keep his eyes down the field most of the time, and even showed that he can run when he has to. Don’t expect him to be a dual threat quarterback because he’s not , however his ability to manipulate the pocket at times and buy himself a little time with a shuffle here and there will go a long way for him this season. Ironically Jameis the more immobile of the two quarterbacks ran for more yards .
Most glaring weakness: Consistency and decision making
Biggest Asset: pocket presence, ability to scramble for yards when necessary
Overall Grade of performance: C-
Closing Analysis
Jameis and Marcus will forever be locked in a debate/comparison for the rest of their careers. It is an inevitable consequence that comes with being drafted 1 and 2. It’s even worse when the two men play the same position. Mariota had the better game week 1 of preseason, I’m confident in saying that however I’m not confident in saying that he is the better player. Football is a team sport and it doesn’t consist of just the men on the field. The men with the clipboards are part of that team as well and the Tennessee Titans seem to already have a plan in place and the means to execute it that will help their young QB develop as the pre-season progresses. That’s not to say the Bucs don’t have a plan for Winston because I’m sure they do, it just didn’t look fluent in their debut. At their base level right now going off what I saw in the pre-season I still think developmentally Winston is the better quarterback. He’s strong, fearless in the pocket, and making progressions like a pro already. I have went on record calling Mariota a better Alex Smith (something I’m probably going to change soon), I have to say Jameis reminded me a lot of Big Ben. A big guy who moves in the pocket, not necessarily fast but able to scramble for a few yards when needed , and no matter what is going on around him ALWAYS keeps his eyes down the field. That in and of itself is probably the greatest asset to Winston and something that a coach can work with. You can’t really teach comfort in the pocket, or how to feel pressure.
Now I said Jameis is the better quarterback developmentally but I gave Mariota the better review…why is that? Well I feel Mariota will forever be plagued by not being as polished as Winston but the end results will always LOOK better. He’s smart with the ball and that’s just as important to what he brings to the table as Winston’s ability to stand in the pocket under pressure . Mariota is efficiency and Jameis is volume. Moving forward with their very young careers I will leave a warning to Team Mariota and to Team Winston. The biggest down fall to Team Mariota’s success will be the dreaded identity crisis that affects every dual threat quarterback. When trying to solve this riddle I’m often reminded of a famous Bruce Lee saying “be like water”. Mariota should run when it’s there and he should pass when it presents itself as well. Be reactive not premeditated. Team Winston has a lot of Brett Farve in him, meaning he’s never met a throw he thought he couldn’t make. Volume is good if it’s at the right pace, but too much on a bad day could lead to a lot of problems. As these two continue their journey to NFL careers it will be interesting which franchise figures out how to maximize their prize possession first.
After all it still remains a team sport…..
