Play 7 (Interception)
Opponent: Stanford
Situation: 3rd and 7 at ORE 33
Description: Q3 - (8:31) Marcus Mariota pass intercepted Alex Carter return for no gain to the Stanf 40
http://i.imgur.com/jmLp5i6.jpg
Mariota is in Shotgun Near Trips Left formation while the defense is in Cover 1 while playing man-to-man coverage across the trips. The outside left WR runs a go route and Mariota instantly finds him after the snap. The WR has a step on CB25 Carter since he starts his route one step to the outside and then speeds forward turning Carter’s hips in the process.
http://i.imgur.com/ptkxIbk.jpg
Once Mariota releases the ball, CB25 Carter and the WR slow down since the ball is underthrown giving Carter the easy interception on the play. Mariota has a WR wide open on the go-route on 3rd and 8 and he needs to place this ball further to give his WR a chance at it. Missed opportunity.
Play 8 (Fumble)
Opponent: Utah
Situation: 3rd and 10 at ORE 39
Description: Q3 - (12:31) Marcus Mariota sacked by Nate Orchard for a loss of 18 yards to the Oregn 16 Marcus Mariota fumbled, forced by Nate Orchard, recovered by Utah Brian Blechen, return for 5 yds to the Oregn 16
http://i.imgur.com/eENhPLD.jpg
The Utes bring six pass rushers and Mariota realizes the free edge rusher coming from the right side of the offensive line.
http://i.imgur.com/TzXHN8p.jpg
Mariota starts scrambling to the outside but RG78 Hunt delivers a blow one of the defensive lineman who rolls into that free edge rusher.
http://i.imgur.com/sT7Kl4M.jpg
Mariota tries to avoid this tumbling of bodies by hopping over them, but all the while SS4 Blechen beats LT75 Fisher to the inside shedding the block to sack Mariota. While he is bringing him down he uses his left hand to punch out the ball. Here Mariota needs to be extra cognizant with the football and needs to focus on holding onto it with all his force.
Play 9 (Fumble)
Opponent: Utah
Situation: 1st and 10 at UTAH 14
Description: Q4 - (7:14) Marcus Mariota run for no gain to the Utah 13 Marcus Mariota fumbled, recovered by Oregn Marcus Mariota Marcus Mariota pass complete to Keanon Lowe for 1 yd to the Utah 13
This last fumble is due to a combination of the snap being hard, which Mariota was not expecting so he missed it. Even though this play started poorly, Mariota is able to corrall the ball in the backfield and keep his eyes downfield to find an open receiver on the busted play.
http://i.imgur.com/WkPZbuv.jpg
Give credit to Mariota for being calm/collected enough to make this read and throw instead of panicking.
Play 10 (Interception)
Opponent: Florida State
Situation: 2nd and 5 at ORE 30
Description: Q2 - (0:23) Marcus Mariota pass intercepted Nate Andrews return for no gain to the FlaSt 49
http://i.imgur.com/Vgn6YDE.jpg
In the Rose Bowl game versus Jameis Winston and the Seminoles, Mariota is in shotgun and fakes the handoff to his runningback. Florida State is in Cover 3 defense with 5 linebacker zones across the middle of the field.
Mariota reads the outside wide receiver running a deep hitch, but he’s covered. So Mariota moves on to read WR87 Carrington running a crossing route over the middle of the field from the right side of the field. From the center of the wide receiver trips, WR85 Stanford runs to the left flat for a dump pass and he’s wide open with nobody round him for at least 10 yards, but Mariota chooses to throw the ball over the middle of the field to WR87 Carrington.
http://i.imgur.com/t2OGlAD.jpg
With only 23 seconds left to play in the half on your own 30 yard line, your two choices are to protect your lead or attempt a drive down the field to set up a quick field goal. I don’t mind the throw across the middle of the field to WR87 Carrington seeing as Oregon has two timeouts, but Mariota simply overthrows the ball giving FS29 Andrews a diving attempt at an interception which he pulls in. Inaccuracy causes this pick.
Play 11 (Interception)
Opponent: Ohio State
Situation: 2nd and 10 at ORE 43
Description: Q4 - (0:08) Marcus Mariota pass intercepted Eli Apple return for 8 yds to the OhSt 33
The last interception occurred in the final 8 seconds of the National Championship game after the Ducks were down by 22 points. I’m not going to go into this play any further than say that Mariota did a good job of scrambling around the backfield to buy time to set up the throw, but when the defense is anticipating a deep shot down the field and there are three defenders in the region it’s an easy interception to end a game that was already over. Again, it’s a deep hail mary that Oregon had to take the shot, so I’m more showing it in this breakdown since it is still “technically” an interception for him even though I don’t blame Mariota on this one.
Overall, Mariota fumbled the ball seven times this season and lost four of them. Most of his fumbles this season seemed to be on handoffs and due to him not being cognizant enough to protect the football in the pocket. The handoff issue happening more than once is an issue because Mariota rarely snapped the ball from under center at Oregon. This ball transition from the center to the quarterback will need to be practiced and refined to ensure that he doesn’t lose the ball. As far as Mariota’s interceptions, two of them were due to inaccuracy while one of them was due to missing an underneath linebacker. Ball security is a very big issue in the NFL especially since studies have shown that fumbling leads to an average cost of 4.65 points versus 4.35 points to the opposing team. Although 0.3 points/fumble isn’t earth shattering, over time this adds up because of the loss of field position.
