2. Quarterback play
Marcus Mariota is by far one of the most polarizing figures in the history of the franchise. Anytime his name is brought up, a metaphorical civil war breaks out on twitter between people on both sides of the Mariota fence.
Last season, the Oregon product had eight games (half the season) in which he accumulated less than 180 passing yards. Many made the argument that his poor play was due to his nerve injury, among a plethora of other injuries – and that argument was fair for 2018.
However, here we are in 2019 and there’s no nerve injury, yet more excuses are being thrown in the former second overall pick’s direction.
The season is young, but saying that Mariota has struggled early on would be putting it mildly. Titans fans spent the last two seasons preaching how his stats were deceiving, and that is the case once again.
if you take a glance at his numbers you may think he is having a relatively good season. Yet this is one of those cases where context must be provided. Mariota has missed a countless amount of open throws while also refusing to take chances for the big play these last two weeks.
Marcus Mariota... in Year 5... on a motivated contract year... in back to back weeks... lost to 2 backup quarterbacks... and hasn’t faced the division favorites yet.... and averaged less than 200 yards passing per game... in a pass happy league...
— Justin Beasley (@JBeasleyOpinion) September 20, 2019
We are beginning to approach a point where even the biggest Mariota supporters have to ask themselves how much longer are we going to accept this level of quarterback play? Especially when they have a backup quarterback who is arguably just as talented as Mariota is at this very moment.
The leash is getting shorter by the week for the former Heisman winner. He must get things going in a hurry or this will be the last season that we see the Hawaiian native in two-tone blue. The season is young, so it is not time to give up on Mariota just yet, but a change is inevitable if this level of quarterback play continues.
One thing is for sure: the Titans must be 100 percent certain that they are ready to move on from Mariota if they do decide to go with Tannehill at any point this season. Because once Mariota is pulled, there is no going back to him, barring an injury to Tannehill.