The sky may be the limit for Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. But the valley that comes with it couldn’t be much lower
There’s not much of a middle ground. Mariota posted a perfect quarterback rating on his rookie debut, but it wasn’t long after we saw a season in which Mariota tossed more interceptions than touchdowns.
We’ve seen him sprint down the sideline for an 87-yard touchdown for the win, and then struggle to stay healthy.
We’ve seen him toss a touchdown pass to himself in the playoffs, and take costly sacks to knock the team out of field goal range.
Going through so many coaching changes in his young career should be largely to blame, however, Mariota has to be held accountable to some extend.
Here are the issues that Mariota has to take responsibility for with his inconsistent play.
Hesitation.
Several of Marcus Mariota’s throws can be labeled as inaccurate. But, the culprit isn’t just Mariota missing the mark.
On most of Mariota’s inaccurate passes, hesitation is to blame. Some of it is double clutching the football, some of it is not trusting what he’s seeing, and some of it could even be his natural instincts telling him to run.
While the quarters maybe measured in minutes and the distance in yards, the margin for errors in the NFL is seconds and inches.
When Mariota double clutches the football before he throws, the window he was seeing has already closed. The same could be said about him not trusting what he’s seeing or when his instincts says to run.
Fundamentals.
This could go back to Mariota’s instincts telling him to run. On several of Mariota’s off target throws, his feet in not set, and his body is not pointing at the target.
On these throws Mariota is relying solely on his arm strength to get the ball to his target, and it lacks the zip to drive the ball into the tight window.
Just as a boxer throws a punch, a quarterback throws the ball with the same muscles. The energy starts from digging their feet into the ground, as the energy travels up their bodies, and the hips come into play for the extra torch.
This is key for throwing an accurate football into a tight window.
A quarterback having his body pointing to his target gives him more control of where the ball is going to go, and really gives an edge on putting the ball in a certain place.
Never throwing the ball across your body is one of the biggest rules quarterback shouldn’t break, but Mariota does this a little to often.
While not every throw is going to be perfect, and pockets can get crowded, working on his footwork could go along ways in improving Mariota’s game.
Play calling.
Mariota seems to be at his best when he’s running a zone read play or a play action.
But these plays take time to develop. On a play action play Mariota has his back turned to the defense, and by the time he gets his head around, there is pressure in his face.
A zone read play also takes time to develop and the blocking just hasn’t been good enough to see a lot of this.
These are the plays that fit into Mariota’s comfort zone, but the blocking doesn’t hold up well enough.
Mariota has the talent to take over a game — we’ve seen it.
But if he can’t take the next step in his development, a game managing quarterback will be all he ever is.
Paying a quarterback top dollar and having to rely on a strong run game and stout defense won’t win you any Super Bowls.
