The Tennessee Titans are moving forward with Ryan Tannehill at starting quarterback after benching Marcus Mariota in the third quarter of the team’s 16-0 loss to the Denver Broncos last week.
Plenty of analysts, fans and former players have offered their take on the situation in Tennessee, with one of the latest being former Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews.
Matthews, who played alongside Mariota, says there’s so much respect for Mariota that people are hesitant to “be real with him.”
“He’s so respected that nobody wants to keep it real, everybody’s afraid to be real with him, and sometimes I think people are forced into situations to kind-of baby him along the way,” he said on ESPN’s 102.5 The Game in Nashville. “It’s just tough for people to be that real with such a respected, cool guy. He’s cool, nothing bad, but at the end of the day, you’re in this business to win. The guy that leads the team is the quarterback. On all the great teams, you’ve got a great vocal quarterback who wants the ball in their hand and who demands greatness from their players.”
Matthews describes Mariota as a competitor, but thinks he needs to be more vocal.
“[Marcus Mariota] definitely loves to compete,” he said on the show. “He loves being a quarterback, and he loves being a leader, but you know, in high school and college you can be that silent leader, but when you get in the league, you’re around grown men, you’ve got to demand greatness from grown men. They’ve got to be able to see that every day and not just every now and then.”
It will certainly be curious to see if Tannehill, who is similar by the numbers to Mariota, can take a more effective leadership approach.
