Tennessee Titans: Mike Vrabel on the hot seat, and other awful takes
B/R says Tannehill “continues to turn up the heat”
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon did his Preseason Week 2 takeaways, and claimed that Tannehill “continues to turn up the heat” on Mariota for the Tennessee Titans starting QB job.
"It doesn’t help that Tannehill clearly outplayed Mariota in the Titans’ preseason opener last week, completing 12 of 16 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns in a turnover-free performance while the incumbent starter completed just four of eight passes for 24 yards. The good news for those who still believe the 2015 No. 2 overall pick can become a long-term franchise quarterback is that Mariota, 25, put together a better performance Saturday against the Patriots, completing six of nine passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for an impressive yet dangerous two-point conversion."
It is true Tannehill put up bigger numbers than Mariota in the first preseason game, however Mariota played in just one series. Tannehill, on the other hand, had the majority of the first half, and posted his numbers against all second- and third-string defenders.
Gagnon is right when he says Mariota looked better in his second preseason game, but he also looked better than Tannehill did in the same contest. Now, that’s not to say Tannehill didn’t play well, however he didn’t look as sharp as he did in the preseason opener.
Again, this idea that Tannehill is turning up the heat on Mariota couldn’t be further from the truth. That would imply that Tannehill could simply unseat Mariota by himself at some point, whether it be in Week 1 or later.
Make no mistake about it: this is Mariota’s job to lose, and only poor play on his part after the season starts will be his undoing.
Mariota will get every chance to make this work and prove he’s the quarterback of the future, and there’s nothing Tannehill can do in practice or during the preseason that will change that. As Mariota has stated, the only competition is with himself, and that’s 100 percent accurate.