TAMPA, Fla. -- As a prospect, Marcus Mariota famously made executives in NFL front offices wonder if the squeaky clean touchdown machine from Oregon was too good to be true.

As a rookie playing in his regular-season debut Sunday, Mariota did them one better: He was, on this day, the perfect quarterback.

Mariota compiled one of the great rookie debuts in NFL history in leading the Tennessee Titans to a 42-14 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, throwing for four touchdowns in the first half and achieving the highest passer rating the NFL allows, of 158.3.

Just as he often did at Oregon, Mariota sat the entire fourth quarter of the blowout.

Mariota finished 13-of-16 passing for 209 yards, meaning threw more touchdowns than incompletions. He is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw four TDs in a half during his debut, and only Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton had more total touchdowns in a debut.

That was in 1961.

If Mariota's day wasn't remarkable enough for what took place, it was magnified by where it took place.

By the early minutes of the second half, the home stadium of the Bucs -- the franchise that selected Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston with the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft -- was half-empty and wholly devoid of the noisy, rabid energy that preceded kickoff. Though the former Duck has downplayed any personal rivalry between himself and Winston, the last two winners of the Heisman Trophy, the game was billed as a showdown between the draft's No. 1 and No. 2 overall selections.

It was a show, all right -- for Mariota.

The Bucs' big day -- with Winston as their new quarterback -- backfired like one of the pirate ship cannons housed behind one of the stadium's end zones. As the rout began, several fans could be seen covering their faces with the promotional sweat bands handed out to fans as they entered the stadium gates.

Not much had been expected from a matchup between teams that combined to finish 4-28 last season -- and then the Titans put on a clinic that would have looked to the uninformed like the work of a division title winner. Tennessee scored the most points in a single game since 2012.

The Titans' defense hounded Winston into three sacks and allowed him little time to throw, with his touchdown passes coming to tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins early in the first quarter and then again in the fourth. Between that pair of highlights, the Raymond James crowd booed the Buccaneers on multiple occasions. He finished 16-of-33 passing for 210 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Perhaps keep this in mind: The rookie record for touchdown passes in a season is 26, held by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

To reach that mark, Mariota must have a very good season, no small task over the course of 16 games, not all of which will appear this stunningly easy.

But that year kicked off Sunday in spectacular fashion. Some might have called it perfect.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif