Tennessee Titans: PFT kicks off stupid Marcus Mariota-QB controversy talk

It didn’t take long for the media to say that there’s a quarterback controversy on the Tennessee Titans.

After just one preseason game, Pro Football Talk is already attempting to stir the pot by talking about a quarterback controversy that doesn’t exist with the Tennessee Titans.

Starting quarterback Marcus Mariota played just one series in the preseason opener and looked OK, connecting on 4-of-8 passes for 24 yards. All of his completions were caught by slot reciever, Adam Humphries, and the drive resulted in a turnover on downs

Backup quarterback Ryan Tannehill played much more than Mariota, and he looked sharp. Tannehill completed 12-of-16 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Three of those incompletions were dropped passes.

Clearly Tannehill had a much bigger sample size than Mariota, but I’m sure Mariota would have put up similar numbers if he had faced the same backup defense that Tannehill did. Now, that’s not to say we’re downplaying what Tannehill did in a situation in which he should thrive, it’s just a fact.

While we understand that, apparently Pro Football Talk didn’t get the same memo. In fact, in an article by Charean Williams, she is hinting that a quarterback controversy might be brewing.

"So while the Titans say Mariota is the starter, Tannehill just gave notice that he isn’t going to make their decision a no-brainer."

If we’re going to take these preseason numbers to heart, then I guess Mariota should be “looking over his shoulder” for third-string quarterback Logan Woodside, as well. Woodside was also “better” than Mariota, as he went 15-of-20 for 138 yards and two scores.

Give me a break.

There is no quarterback controversy in Tennessee. Mariota has been and will be the starting quarterback for this franchise in 2019, no matter what Tannehill does behind him during the preseason.

The best thing about having Tannehill on the roster is that he’s a great insurance policy for Mariota should he get injured. Nothing more, nothing less.

And, it would take a monumental collapse on Mariota’s part to lose his starting job during the regular season. After four years in the league, we haven’t seen anything to indicate that can happen to the Oregon product.

The media is clearly jumping the gun on this so-called controversy, and it’s just dumb. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has made it clear that Mariota is the guy time and time again, so any talk to the contrary just doesn’t make sense.

And that’s especially true after one preseason game.