Hyped-up game against Bucs not so much for Titans’ Mariota

Please repeat after Marcus Mariota: Sunday’s NFL season opener in Tampa, Fla., is not about him versus Jameis Winston.

It is not about the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft versus the No. 2 selection.

It is not about the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner vs. the 2013 winner.

And it is not about one’s character vs. the other’s conduct.

At least to him the drumbeat is lost. When asked if he understood it Monday, Mariota told a press conference, “To me, no. I don’t play defense. I don’t play against Jameis.”

But he is vastly outnumbered because, to the rest of the NFL universe, it is a compelling matchup for what could become an enduring rivalry.

The folks at 345 Park Avenue in New York, NFL Headquarters, might not be able to win a court battle against the NFL Players Association when it comes to discipline cases, but they had pretty good instinct when they rolled out the 2015 regular-season schedule five months ago.

Back then, 10 days before the opening round of the draft, they correctly surmised that the two forlorn teams holding the No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks, Tampa Bay and Tennessee, would eschew trades and go for the marquee quarterbacks, Winston and Mariota, in some order.

And what better way to put some sizzle into the season-opening weekend TV ratings than a match-up of historical proportions.

The buzz on that one began at Mariota’s own draft day party just moments after Tennessee’s pick was announced.

Since the beginning of the “common draft era,” when the NFL and AFL drafted together in 1967, quarterbacks have been taken with the first two selections six times. And while it is the third time the pairings have met as rookies, it will be the first in a season opener.

Without the story line of Mariota and Winston, this would be just two 2-14 teams trying to dig themselves out of division cellars.

Monday Mariota maintained that, in his mind, “It is not at all” about him and Winston. “It is about us, about the Tennessee Titans, and that’s all that matters to me. People will obviously try to make debates and opinions about what’s going on, but I’m focused on what our team has to do and preparing for Sunday.”

A wise outlook no doubt for someone whose time is best spent on the all but kitchen sink assortment of defenses that may be thrown at him as a debuting rookie.

“Obviously, people are continuing to make that debate, but you can’t focus on it,” Mariota said. “You have to focus on what’s going on today.”

To be sure, Mariota and Winston have gotten along amicably enough. They worked out alongside each other at a training facility in San Diego preparing for the draft. Mariota, characteristically, has had nothing but positive things to say about Winston. “My (impression from) interaction with him is that he’s one of those guys who works hard and knows a lot about football and is a great player,” Mariota said. “What he did in college says a lot about him.”

What they both did in college and how they entered the NFL also says a lot about why it wants this matchup front and center opening week.