Jameis Winston's NFL debut did not go as planned.
His first pro pass was intercepted and taken back for a touchdown and he struggled to move the offense behind a shaky offensive line.
"Jameis didn't play well," Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. "That's what he'll tell you."
Following the 42-14 shellacking by the Tennessee Titans, the No. 1 overall pick, indeed, told us just that:
"I can't turn it over on the first possession; that's just something for me to learn from," said Winston. "So I put us behind the eight-ball a little bit. But we bounced back. When we're playing Buccaneer football, we play well. Obviously, I've got to protect the football. But the guys played great; it was just a learning experience for me.
"It's just one game, that's the main thing. But for myself, like coach Lovie Smith preaches, you've got to win the turnover ratio and tonight I put us behind the eight-ball but we're going to bounce back."
Winston's numbers -- 16-of-33 passing for 210 yards, two scores and two interceptions -- don't look terrible. However, they aren't in a vacuum.
On a day the No. 1 overall pick was put on his backside four times, picked off twice and struggled thoroughly, the No. 2 overall pick, Marcus Mariota, put on a pristine performance.
"Their quarterback played better today," Smith said. "Their football team played better today. Their coach did a better job of coaching their football team than I did today. But it's today. This is one game. Let's not overreact to a bad performance. We're going to feel bad about this one and give them all their due credit, but it's no more than that. We have a guy that's perfect for us going forward."
The No. 1 overall pick and No. 2 overall pick faced off in Week 1 of their rookie season for just the fifth time since 1970. Prior to Sunday, the only time the No. 2 selection had earned a victory was when Calvin Johnson's Detroit Lions bested JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders.
