The 2016 season is barely under way and it's already ugly. Let the venting begin with some random thoughts.1. PR, and the Winston supporters can step up right here and eat their crow. Sorry, but there's no way to spin what we saw today. PR went all in on Winston and rammed him down our throats all offseason, so now they can own this. Mariota clearly looked like the better QB and was definitely better prepared. Not saying Winston won't be good in time, but PR and some others around here went out of their way to bash people that mentioned Mariota as a possibility for the No. 1 overall pick. Even got called racist by a few people. That comment is about as smart as the decisions this franchise has been making over the past 6 years or so. 2. Winston was an interception machine in college, so why is anyone surprised he was picked off twice and could have been intercepted about 5 different times today? PR and other media people even told us we should expect over 20 interceptions from him. Not sure why you would take a player with the No. 1 overall pick that you "expect" to throw 20-plus INT's, but I'm sure the Owners and front office know what they are doing (sigh).3. The Titans, who were the second worst team in the NFL last year, demolished the Bucs at home 41-14. The game was literally over at the 6-minute mark in the first quarter. Anyone who bought season tickets this year should be calling the ticket office to get a refund. 4. Getting blasted 41-14 by the second worst team in the NFL (and at home) is inexcusable when you consider the Bucs had an entire offseason to prepare for this game. Granted, the Titans did, too. That said, hmm, which coaching staff did a better job of preparing their team to win Sunday? 5. I would have liked to have seen what Doug Martin could have done vs. the Titans today had the Bucs not been out of the game in the first quarter. The Bucs were forced to start throwing so early that Martin became an after thought. 6. Mariota looked poised and threw 4 TD's in the first half alone (set a rookie NFL record). Just like he did at Oregon. Winston fell behind early and threw a lot of bad balls, just like he did at Florida St. last year. The one thing that was sorely missing from Winston's game that he had in college was the ability to bring his team back from a large deficit in the second half. The offense actually played worse in the third quarter than they did in the first two, which was pretty hard to do. 7. I would say the "Fire Lovie" watch is officially on. He is now 2-15 and the Bucs have lost 10 straight at home. But it doesn't seem to matter who the QB is or who the head coach or GM is. The common theme in our mediocre football play since 2009 has been the Glazers. Here's to hoping they sell the team soon, if they can even get anything for it right now. 8. Looking forward to getting Mike Evans back on offense, but he doesn't play defense. Mariota was impressive, but definitely was aided by a piss poor performance by Lovie Smith's defense. Said it before and will keep saying it; we did nothing to address our lack of pass rush. If Mariota was able to do this to our defense, just imagine what Drew Brees will do with all the time in the world to throw.9. Speaking of Lovie, how many wins does he need to survive this season? Right now I don't see more than 2 wins from this team. And if that's the case there is no doubt he should be fired along with Jason Licht. But would it really matter? Again, at some point you have to start looking at Ownership.10. Will be interesting to see/read how PR and other Winston supporters try to spin this. Good luck on that one! Let me guess; Mariota had the better game, but Winston will be better in the long run, or some garbage like that. I thought both QB's actually had a good shot of being good pros, but absolutely got my head bitten off by a lot of people around here for suggesting the Bucs should take Mariota over Winston. I read analysis from PR stating that Mariota was too quiet and wasn't a good leader, and how he would struggle at the next level because of his skill set and because he had never taken a snap from under center. Well, today, Mariota took the head off the Bucs, and made his critics in Tampa look pretty damn stupid in the process.
