Restoring your faith in Marcus Mariota
By Will Lomas
There are a lot of people that think this is the perfect time to criticize Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, but those people might not know what they are talking about. Sure Mariota had a bad game by his standard, but to say he has had a bad game or that he looked inferior to Jameis Winston is kind of ridiculous.
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Let’s look at some of the reasons why Tennessee Titans fans should be really happy with Marcus Mariota.
-Mariota’s six touchdowns in his first two games are the most by any quarterback all time. I believe the stat is that Dan Marino had six in his first full starts, but he had several games off the bench before he made those starts.
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-Despite being the most sacked quarterback in the league, he also has the highest QBR over the first two weeks. Which roughly means that despite being hit the most, he has been one of if not the most efficient quarterback in the league. Other than Tom Brady, Mariota is the only other quarterback with 6+ touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
-The last time the Titans had a (non Mariota) QB that started a full game with two or more touchdowns and no interceptions was Jake Locker in Week 1 of the 2014 season, and that was the only time that happened in the last 21 games.
-Despite getting no help from wide receivers or offensive line, (only six catches on 16 targets and seven sacks allowed) Marcus Mariota put up is still averaging 8.79 YPA which is 5th in the league.
-On a rough day for Mariota he still managed a 96.3 quarterback rating, which would have been 8th last year just behind Andrew Luck and ahead of names like Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer, Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers, and Joe Flacco.
So, while it was a rough day for Marcus Mariota, he won’t be facing an aggressive defense with such talented pieces on the back end every week. Against a defense with Joe Haden, Randy Starks, Danny Shelton, Karlos Dansby, Paul Kruger, Donte Whitner, Tashaun Gibson, and Tramon Williams which is a pretty stacked unit coached by a great defensive mind.
The Titans still get to play six games against teams in the PFF’s bottom eight teams defensively. There will be more big games for Marcus Mariota and he should still have a very good season.