Titans QB Marcus Mariota impresses again in third preseason game
So far during the preseason, the story with Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota is how well he has handled adversity.
He turned it over twice in his preseason debut at Atlanta, but rallied after that for a long drive. In Mariota’s second preseason game, his helmet headset went out, and he wasn’t bothered by that either.
Mariota seems mostly unflappable. He started 0-for-3 in a tough road environment (albeit a preseason crowd) at the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night. He didn’t have a completion a few minutes into the second quarter and the Titans found themselves down big to the Chiefs. No problem.
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Mariota started completing pass after pass after a slow start. He has shown great accuracy this preseason, and he completed seven of his next eight passes to end the half. After the Titans fell behind 17-0, Mariota led a field-goal drive and a touchdown drive before the half ended. His final seven completions went for 99 yards, all in the second quarter. Zach Mettenberger started the second half for the Titans.
It’s just preseason, and things will get much tougher in a couple weeks for Mariota, but to this point the Titans have to be thrilled with what they’ve seen from the second overall pick of the draft.
Mariota also showed off his athleticism. He looked very fast on a 14-yard run around left tackle in the first quarter. He also had a great move to avoid the pass rush and turn a sure sack into a 7-yard rushing gain that was just short of the first-down marker on third down. Just to avoid the rush that came through unblocked was impressive.
It wasn’t all easy for Mariota. On a third down in the second quarter he was sacked when he couldn’t beat outside linebacker Justin Houston to the edge, something he probably didn’t experience much at Oregon. Then the normally calm and polite Mariota seemed a bit upset that Houston stood over him after the sack and pushed him away. But that’ll happen during his rookie season too.
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Mariota hasn’t been bothered by much this preseason. He has completed 19-of-27 passes for 252 yards. Mariota will deal with some tough days during his first NFL season, but from all accounts so far, he should be able to handle those just fine.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
