When is it entirely okay to call a matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a marquee one? Why, when two rookie quarterbacks and former Heisman Trophy winners go head to head right in the very first week of the season of course. That’s exactly the case when the Tennessee Titans parade new quarterback Marcus Mariota in their season debut at Raymond James Stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers set to begin the Jameis Winston era.
Read on for more about this matchup. For more Week 1 game preview, you can click here for Steelers vs. Patriots and here for Browns vs. Jets.
[sc:Football ]Tennessee Titans vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Betting Preview and Prediction
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
When: Thursday, September 13, 4:25 AM ET
Line: Tennessee Titans (+3) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3); total: 42.0– see all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: CBS
Betting on the Tennessee Titans
[sc:NFL240banner ]Marcus Mariota has quite a bad offense to help fix. Taken by the Titans as the second overall pick in the recent draft, Mariota arrives in Tennessee staring at an offense that desperately needs a messiah following a season in which the Titans ranked 29th in yards per game (303.7), 22nd in passing yards (213.2), and 30th in points (15.9).
Mariota, however, isn’t the be-all and end-all cure to the Titans’ offensive woes. The offensive line will have to improve (it allowed 50 sacks in 2014) and the rookie signal-caller still needs to be surrounded by quality weapons while he continues to figure out how life is in the pros.
That’s why the Titans drafted Dorial Green-Beckham, who has the size at 6-5 and the skill to make things happen anywhere down field. Green-Beckham and Kendall Wright (who led all Titans wide receivers last season with 715 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns) make up a good pair of targets for Mariota to begin with his work in the NFL. Although the Titans’ offensive line remains a work in progress, Mariota should be able to dissect a Tampa Bay defense that ranked 28th in passing defense (255.2) a year ago.
Conversely, the Titans’ defense also needed work in the offseason after finishing 2014 27th in total yards allowed per game (373.0). With the Titans seemingly now in possession of a better quarterback than Josh McCown in Jameis Winston, Tennessee’s pass rush must be quick to apply pressure on the former Seminole. That’s going to be the main job of newcomer Brian Orakpo, who had 10.0 sacks in 2013 but only had 0.5 the following year because of his inability to stay healthy. Last season, the Titans was 16th in sacks (39.0) and 21st in interceptions (12).
The under is 4-0 in the Titans’ last four regular season games.
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Betting on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It wasn’t long ago that Jameis Winston and his Florida State team were the hapless victims of Mariota’s high-flying Ducks in a thorough beatdown in Pasadena. That setback is not lost on Winston, who’ll now look to return the favor to Mariota, as the Bucs host Tennessee come Week 1. Tampa Bay is 2-1 ATS in its last three home games.
Like Tennessee, however, Winston will be surrounded by a much-maligned protection unit that did little to keep Josh McCown upright last season. In 2014, the Bucs saw their opponents sack their quarterbacks 50 times—fourth most in the league. The Bucs partially addressed the issue by drafting a couple of offensive linemen in Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet. Both are expected to join returning pieces Evan Dietrich-Smith, Logan Mankins, and Demar Dotson.
If this group succeeds in buying Winston time, the Bucs’ quarterback should have seamless connection with Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, two targets that stand 6-5. Given their height and skill, Jackson and Evans are primed to dominate the Titans’ much smaller starting corners in Perrish Cox and Jason McCourty.
Evans topped the Bucs last season with 1,051 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, while Jackson had 1,002 yards and an underwhelming two receiving scores. Jackson disappointed many in Tampa last season with such a small quantity of touchdowns, but with Winston now at the helm of the offense, the 32-year-old wideout could be in for a bounce back campaign.
As for the backfield, the Bucs still have Doug Martin, who was the “star” of a Tampa Bay rushing game that averaged just 85.9 yards per game (29th) last year. So bad was Tampa Bay in this department that quarterback Josh McCown reached the end zone more times (3) than Martin, who led the team with only 494 yards and registered a head-shaking total of two touchdowns. That said, the presence of a supposedly better passing game might open up opportunities for Martin, Bobby Rainey, and Charles Sims to star against Tennessee.
Writer’s Prediction
Tampa Bay (-3) wins, 25-21.
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