Marcus Mariota couldn’t even complete one pass in Nissan Stadium on Sunday night — but that wasn’t his fault.
The Tennessee Titans starting quarterback’s night was cut short in light of one of the worst performances we’ve seen from the offensive line lately, which allowed a total of seven sacks and a safety between all three quarterbacks on an 18-6 loss.
Mariota was 0-of-3 pass attempts and was tackled in the end-zone for a safety.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel indicated that he had wanted to keep Mariota in action longer than he did, but sending Ryan Tannehill into the game with roughly four and a half minutes remaining was the right move.
Mariota played just two series before being sidelined, and there’s a decent possibility he could be finished for the preseason, as he didn’t play in last year’s final preseason contest.
“We want to make sure that we can protect our quarterback — that’s important,” Vrabel said after the game. “It’s imperative that we do that as a staff and we do that as an offensive group. … I wanted to see how the game was going, and at that point and time I thought it was in the team’s best interest and in everybody’s best interest that we get him out of the game at that point and time.”
Over all three preseason games, Mariota is 10-of-20 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown without an interception.
The Titans will hope to see vast improvement within the offensive line as they take on the Chicago Bears on Thursday and prepare for Week 1 of the regular season against the Cleveland Browns.
