Tennessee Titans vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What's the Game Plan for Tampa Bay?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers open up the 2015 regular season by welcoming the Tennessee Titans—last year’s other 2-14 team—to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

The biggest storyline in this game is obviously the face-off between this year’s top two draft picks—Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota—who will each make their first NFL start against one another this week. This will mark the first time in NFL history quarterbacks who were taken with the top two selections will make their first career start in the same game.

But while the rookie quarterbacks will get the headlines just by lining up under center, both teams will have specific plans in place to attack the weaknesses of each first-time starting signal-caller. Both will be facing experienced defensive minds—Tampa Bay head coach Lovie Smith and Tennessee defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau—and getting them rattled early will be high on the priority lists for both sides.

Tampa Bay’s blueprint for a season-opening win starts with setting up Winston for success on offense, so let’s look at how they can do just that.

Offensive Game Plan

Throughout the preseason, Winston’s greatest struggles came when faced with A-gap pressure (up the middle) pre-snap, whether the defenders ended up blitzing or not. Even when opposing defenses would show blitzes between the guards and back off after the snap, Winston looked uncomfortable and rushed far too often, needlessly rushing plays even with no additional pressure actually coming.

Tampa Bay’s 31-7 preseason loss to the Cleveland Browns illustrated just how difficult it can be for Winston to succeed when consistently pressured:

When facing a rookie quarterback, defenses will want to throw as many complex looks at him as they possibly can. From diverse blitz packages to late-rolling coverages, opposing defensive coordinators will pull out every stop to take advantage of a newcomer’s inexperience and potential jitters.

After spending the past 10 years as the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, LeBeau brings his proven track record of success to the Titans, along with a penchant for the complexities that tend to make life difficult on rookie quarterbacks.

In fact, according to Jason Wolf of the Tennessean, LeBeau’s defenses are 26-3 all-time against first-year field generals.

But a complex system can have its drawbacks, as well. I spoke with About.com Steelers expert Curt Popejoy, who had this to say about LeBeau’s scheme:

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A proper LeBeau-coached defense works because it creates confusion for opposing offenses. Teams never know where pressure is coming from. Quarterbacks have to account for so much on every snap.

At the same time, the weakness of this scheme is that it's very complex. With that kind of learning curve it is very talent-dependent. If he doesn't have the proper mix of athletes it can force him to dial back the creativity a great deal. We saw this in Pittsburgh his last few seasons.

"

This will be LeBeau’s first regular-season test of just how much talent he has in Tennessee and how quickly they’ve acclimated to his complex system.

Wolf also spoke to one of the Titans’ newest free-agent additions, pass-rusher Brian Orakpo, about facing a rookie quarterback. The former All-Pro admits Winston isn’t your everyday greenhorn under center:

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That’s the perceived notion when you play a rookie quarterback, but from what he’s shown on film, he’s very, very calm in the pocket and he’s making a lot of checks, he’s calling the protection. This guy is way advanced. My assumption is we’re not going to go in there treating him like a rookie quarterback. We’re going to treat him like a vet, and we’re going to make sure we’re not sloppy with our play, to say the least, and hopefully it’ll open some things up for us, not only in rushing the quarterback but also on the back end and hopefully get some turnovers.

"

One of Winston’s best assets is his confidence, but nothing puts a dent in that quicker than getting hit early and often by consistent pressure. If the Bucs want their new franchise quarterback to stay at his best, they’ll need to neutralize that pressure by giving Winston quick, simple reads, allowing him to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers before the Titans have a chance to get their hands on him.

This plan is helped by the presence of multiple big targets for Winston to throw to, though the potential absence of Mike Evans (hamstring) could make a significant dent. Still, with huge pass-catchers like Vincent Jackson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins at his disposal, Winston should be able to throw the ball up and let them use their big frames to shield defenders and come down with throws even when well-covered.

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

The key to a successful day on offense for Tampa Bay is simple, but much easier said than done because of their struggles along the offensive line. Winston needs to be protected, and the Buccaneers need to establish a successful ground attack early in the game, but they continued to see poor play up front throughout the preseason.

If the line falters again this week and the running game is bottled up in the first quarter, it could be a long afternoon for Winston and the Tampa Bay offense. But if a slimmed-down Doug Martin can get things going on the ground early and Winston can get into a solid rhythm with quick, simple throws to keep the chains moving, the Bucs could easily do enough to start the 2015 season with a victory.

Defensive Game Plan

The Bucs will have a similar mission on defense, as they also face a rookie quarterback in Marcus Mariota. After a highly successful career at Oregon full of gaudy stats and complete with a Heisman Trophy, Mariota enters the NFL amid plenty of apprehension regarding his ability to translate from a spread offense to a more pro-style attack.

But unlike many spread quarterbacks who have struggled to transition successfully to the NFL game, Mariota possesses the pocket presence and football intelligence to go through multiple reads and convert long-developing plays.

James Kenney/Associated Press

Rookie quarterbacks are known for making plenty of mistakes that lead to turnovers, but Mariota’s were very few and far between during his college career. In 41 career starts for the Ducks, Mariota threw 105 touchdowns to just 14 interceptions, an absolutely insane ratio.

He shouldn’t be considered a "running quarterback," but Mariota can definitely put his legs to good use. With 4.5 speed and great pocket awareness, he’s more than capable of making defenses pay when he escapes the pocket and has space to work with downfield.

Much like the Titans with Winston, the Bucs will want to confuse Mariota as much as they can on Sunday, both with blitz packages and complex pre-snap looks. The Tampa 2 scheme is routinely billed as a fairly vanilla scheme, but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s also a false assumption the Bucs play nothing but Cover 2, having shown plenty of man and three-deep looks this preseason.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

The Tampa 2 requires consistent pressure from the front four, but with the Bucs not getting much of that last season, they showed a willingness to blitz more often and with more rushers in the preseason.

The Bucs simply must get after Mariota early and often, forcing him into poor decisions and creating takeaways. It may be only his first NFL start, but if Mariota is given a clean pocket and plenty of time to work with, he will pick apart Tampa Bay’s back seven for small chunks of yardage at a time. This could add up to a high snap count for the Bucs defense, leaving them winded in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.

Key Players and Matchups

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Gerald McCoy vs. Titans guards

A three-time Pro Bowler, McCoy is the anchor of the Tampa Bay defense, and now he’s being paid like it. The expectations have never been higher for the former third overall draft pick, and without much proven production at defensive end, the Bucs will be relying on McCoy to generate consistent pressure on Mariota from the middle.

The trade of Andy Levitre leaves Byron Bell as the likely starter at left guard for the Titans this week, while former top-10 pick Chance Warmack will be on the right side. They will be tasked with keeping McCoy at bay and forcing Tampa Bay’s unproven edge-rushers to get after their rookie quarterback.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Brian Orakpo vs. Donovan Smith

An experienced, productive edge-rusher against a rookie starter at left tackle? The Titans have to be salivating over this matchup, as the newly signed Orakpo looks to return to his Pro Bowl form after a torn pectoral muscle ended his 2014 season prematurely with Washington.

The 34th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Smith will have his hands full all day long with Orakpo, but he’ll be charged with keeping Winston upright, which will be vital to the overall success of the Tampa Bay offense. If he can’t win this battle at least half of the time, it could be a long afternoon for Winston and the Bucs when they have the ball.

Prediction

Both quarterbacks are likely to make their share of mistakes, but this game will come down to how each team responds to them and capitalizes on the opportunities they afford.

The Bucs know their offensive line is the weakest link on that side of the ball, but offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter should be able to keep things simple for Winston and get the ball out of his hands quickly, taking advantage of the weapons he has at his disposal.

On defense, the Bucs have to make life difficult for Mariota in the pocket, both before the snap and after. If they can mix up their pre-snap looks and blitz effectively, they can force the rookie into costly errors that could lead to the takeaways the Tampa 2 scheme thrives on.

This one should be close, but I see Winston making just a few more plays than his rookie counterpart, making the difference in a Tampa Bay victory.

Final Prediction: Bucs 24, Titans 20

Luke Easterling is a featured columnist covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFL Draft for Bleacher Report. He is also a senior NFL Draft analyst for Draft Breakdown. Follow him on Twitter @Luke Easterling.