The past bodes well for the future with Matt LaFleur and Marcus Mariota

PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 25: Marcus Mariota #8 of the Tennessee Titans drops back to pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during their preseason game on August 25, 2018 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 25: Marcus Mariota #8 of the Tennessee Titans drops back to pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during their preseason game on August 25, 2018 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Don’t overreact to Mariota’s bad performance yesterday.

The Tennessee Titans have a franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota, even if yesterday’s game doesn’t make you feel great.

I am going to go ahead and put a disclaimer here:

-Yes I know it is just preseason.

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-I also know that Rishard Matthews and Delanie Walker aren’t playing yet so his numbers are probably worse than they should be.

So just as a final tally, after yesterday’s game, Marcus Mariota likely exits the preseason with this statline:

61.1% for 165 yards, 9.2 YPA, 2 TD and 1 INT.

Interestingly enough this is Jared Goff’s statline from last preseason:

75% for 250 yards, 7.8 YPA, 1 TD and 1 INT

While the total yards and percentage is higher for Goff last year, the yards per attempt and the touchdown total are higher for Marcus Mariota now.

What that means is while Goff was dinking and dunking last year, the Titans are making bigger splash plays (30+ yards to Nick Williams and Taywan Taylor’s screen stand out) on fewer attempts.

Understand, I am not saying that Marcus Mariota is perfect or that he didn’t struggle yesterday. What I am saying is that the Titans quarterback isn’t hitting every throw but when he is the offense is making the big plays enough that it doesn’t matter.

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Through the first two games, Mariota led a touchdown on 2 out of 3 drives and the YPA was closer to 12 even though the percentage was still the same.

Once the Tennessee Titans get settled into this offense and start incorporating more screens and RB passes the completion percentage will go up without really giving up too much in terms of YPA.

This offense is fine and it isn’t like Mariota’s preseason has been catastrophic. In fact the majority of his snaps have been good it was just once the protection turned into garbage he struggled and had bad throws on deep passes to Corey Davis.

I am less and less worried the more distance I get from the last preseason game, but I understand that after everyone screams about the importance of the 3rd preseason game.

However, based on how the coaches and players were acting and how little the starter actually played, it seems like the Titans really didn’t care that much about scoring. They were working on specific things (seemingly inside run and non bootleg PAs) and once they see what they want they pull their guys.

As frustrated as I was by how undisciplined the team was with penalties and execution, if this coaching staff got something out of this then that is all you can hope for.

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