Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14 Tennessee Titans 42 Sunday 13 September 2015 at Raymond James Stadium CBS COMMENTARY CREW Andrew Catalon, Steve Beurelein and Steve Tasker
GAME SCORING TEN 13:10-1Q Wright 52 pass from Mariota (Succop kick) TEN 11:48-1Q Sensabaugh 26 interception return (Succop kick) TEN 6:49-1Q Sankey 12 pass from Mariota (Succop kick) TB 14:54-2Q Seferian-Jenkins 5 pass from Winston (Brindza kick) TEN 3:47-2Q Douglas 4 pass from Mariota (Succop kick) TEN 0:48-2Q Walker 1 pass from Mariota (Succop kick) TEN 8:02-3Q Sankey 1 run (Succop kick) TB 9:18-4Q Seferian-Jenkins 41 pass from Winston (Brindza kick)
The pre-game expectation was there, the excitement was there and it was a sell-out for Jameis Winston’s debut for the Bucs. Nine plays into the game, it was 14-0 Titans and it went downhill from there. Fellow rookie QB Marcus Mariota had four TD passes and an almost perfect passer rating as the Buccaneers were utterly humilated in front of their own fans, not many of whom were left in the stands in the 4th quarter. Winston’s first pro pass was returned for a touchdown to mirror the way Doug Williams’ career started in 1978 but he did bounce back to throw a pair of scoring passes to Austin Seferian-Jenkins. But overall this was a home opener that should be forgotten but will remain in the memory for all too long.
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports on a disastrous home opener for the Buccaneers Martin Fennelly offers his usual cutting column How Rick Stroud saw the game unfold Tom Jones has taken over the role of columnist for the Tampa Bay Times Ira Kaufman looks at the job Mariota did to win his debut game The defense made some plays but not enough when it really mattered Game notes and anecdotes from the Buccaneer locker room Scott Smith’s detailed game report Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 94 Johnson LG 70 Mankins DT 93 McCoy C 62 Smith DT 98 McDonald RG 74 Marpet RDE 56 Smith RT 78 Cherilus SLB 51 Lansanah TE 87 Seferian-Jenkins MLB 58 Alexander TE 88 Stocker WLB 54 David WR 18 Murphy LCB 21 Verner WR 83 Jackson RCB 27 Banks QB 3 Winston SS 31 Wright RB 22 Martin FS 30 McDougald PLAYED 2 Brindza, 5 Schum, 11 Humphries, 23 Conte, 26 Moore, 28 Jennings, 34 Sims, 36 Swearinger, 37 Tandy, 43 Rainey, 46 Lane, 48 DePaola, 50 Carter, 52.George, 53 Johnson, 64 Pamphile, 65 Masifilo, 77 McDaniel, 82 Myers, 89 Shepard, 90 Melton, 92 Gholston DID NOT PLAY 8 Glennon, 60 Warren INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 13 Evans, 24 Jenkins, 25 James, 66 Kush, 91 Brown, 96 Fatinikun
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Martin 11-52, Winston 6-18, SIms 5-12, Rainey 3-10, Lane 1-0. TITANS: Sankey 12-74, West 13-41, McCluster 2-8, Mariota 2-6, Mettenberger 3-(-5). PASSING BUCS: Winston 33-16-210-2-2. TITANS: Mariota 16-13-209-0-4. RECEIVING BUCS: Seferian-Jenkins 5-110, Jackson 4-51, SIms 2-23, Humphries 2-14, Shepard 1-6, Rainey 1-4, Martin 1-2. TITANS: Wright 4-101, Walker 3-43, Douglas 2-24, Fasano 1-18, Hunter 1-11. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. TITANS: Sensabaugh 1-26, Mount 1-8. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Rainey 3-83. TITANS: Sankey 1-17. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Rainey 2-17. TITANS: McCluster 2-14. SACKS BUCS: Smith 1-13, McCoy 1-11. TITANS: Morgan 2-16, Casey 1-8, Blackson 1-5.