Front office personnel at the Tampa Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans can safely pat themselves on the back now. It appears they drafted correctly.
Rookie quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, taken No 1 and 2 overall last spring, have passed their early exams and look exactly like the franchise players the Buccaneers and Titans expected.
No sit-and-watch for these two. The pair hit the ground running, and throwing, and have put together strong enough seasons to make them the top two candidates for Rookie of the Year honours.
Good luck trying to decide who deserves the award more.
Mariota has a slightly better statistical case. But Winston has the Buccaneers at 6-6, in contention for a play-off spot and looking to join Andrew Luck as the only No 1 overall quarterback to step in as the starter and lead his new team to a winning record.
Other rookies, such as St Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley and Oakland Raiders receiver Amari Cooper, have had their big moments. But it is Mariota’s or Winston’s trophy in waiting.
Tennessee may be 3-9, but that is hardly Mariota’s fault. Only Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints have given up more touchdowns than the Titans defence.
The former Oregon quarterback threw four touchdown passes in his first game against Winston’s Buccaneers, and has been a surprisingly steady presence ever since, despite missing two games at mid-season with a knee injury.
“He’s gotten better every game,” New York Jets cornerback Buster Skrine said of Mariota to the New York Post, ahead of Sunday’s Jets-Titans game. “He’s playing more advanced than a rookie.”
Mariota has 19 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, to Winston’s 17 and 11. Mariota’s completion percentage is also better (63.4 to 58.6), as is his passing yards per game (251 to 240). Winston has five rushing touchdowns to Mariota’s two, but Mariota’s 87-yard TD run last week was one of the most spectacular plays of the year.
Mariota’s poise in the red zone (inside the opponent’s 20-yard line) also belies his experience. There Mariota has the highest completion rate (68.4) and passer rating (120.1) in the league.
The losing is not much fun, but Mariota sidesteps the frustration.
“You just kind of stick to the grind and don’t get flustered and don’t get down on yourself,” he said of the rebuilding Titans.
Winston threw an interception for a touchdown on his first NFL pass. Over his first four games, he threw seven interceptions as the Buccaneers went 1-3. They are 5-3 since, and Winston has thrown only four picks in those eight games.
“He’s eliminating the bad plays,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, as the Saints prepared for Winston’s Buccaneers this week. “He’s a reason they’re winning.”
Winston benefits from a strong offensive line, which has made running back Doug Martin the league’s second leading rusher. But Tampa Bay do not expect Winston to just timidly manage games. Against Philadelphia in November, Winston tied a rookie record with five touchdown passes.
“It’s not like he’s surprising us a lot,” Winston’s coach, Lovie Smith, told the Tampa Bay Tribune. “Every step along the way, we’ve liked what we’ve seen from him.”
Barring final month flops from either of the top two draft picks, Rookie of the Year voters will have to decide who they like more.
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DANCING AFTER SACKS JUST GRIST FOR VON MILLER’S GAME
Quarterbacks like to say each interception has its own story.
For Von Miller, every sack has its own celebration.
Denver’s star rusher has 58 sacks in his five NFL seasons, including nine this season after he twice dropped San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers last weekend.
The first time, he worked his way out of the pile of players and did a choppy celebration that was part water sprinkler, part robot.
“It was happening too quick and I felt on a timer. You’ve got a timer on you to get the sack dance in. I felt like I had wasted a little bit of time when I got up off the pile, so I just had to hurry up and do something,” Miller said.
He said he guesses he’ll call this one “The Robot.”
A robot dabbing, maybe.
“Yep, that’s it right there,” he said.
But without the hip thrusts.
“No, no pumps,” Miller insisted. “I thought about it for like a half a split-second, but too expensive.”
Earlier this season, the NFL fined Miller US$11,567 (Dh42,500) for his hip thrusts after sacks.
A big Key & Peele fan, Miller said he was just channeling his inner Hingle McCringleberry, the comedy duo’s foil who gets flagged after his third pump.
After hearing about the fine, Jordan Peele tweeted that he and Keegan-Michael Key donated that same amount to Miller’s charity, “Von’s Vision”, which provides glasses to underprivileged kids.
“It was dope,” Miller said. “Those guys are great guys. It was great that they could do that. They didn’t have to do anything like that and they were kind enough to do that and they helped out around 450 kids.
“It was great.”
Miller had low marks for rookie teammate Shane Ray’s sack celebration last week in which he simply somersaulted twice.
Ray must have drawn inspiration from a pre-game film the defence watched, Miller suggested.
“I had a sack against the Chargers in 2012 where I like rolled after it and I had gotten up and I did like a little something. We showed that before, so it’s just Shane. You can’t show Shane stuff like that before (the game). You’ve got to show that after,” Miller said.
“I thought it was pretty creative, but still he’s got a long way to go. I feel confident he’ll be able to get it better. Repetition is the father of learning.”
Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips likes to consider himself young at heart – his homespun wisdom and corny jokes make him a must-follow on Twitter – but when it comes to Miller’s sack celebrations, he admits he is stumped.
“I don’t really know what he’s doing, but I’m glad he’s doing it,” Phillips said. “He seems to change his dances every game, but as long as he gets them every game, that’s great.”
And no, he has no two-steppin’ tips for his fellow Texan.
“No,” the 68-year old Phillips said. “I can only do the ‘YMCA’ and that’s about it.”
-- Associated Press
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