Marcus Mariota vs. Oakland Raiders: 17/37, 218 Yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs

2nd Quarter

Pass #10

Situation: 1st and 10 TEN 36
Description: Q2-(13:28) M. Mariota Pass Short Middle to K. Wright to TEN 48 for 12 Yards (S. McGee; M. Smith)

There are good and bad things on this play by Mariota (#8). The good is the decisiveness of his throw. Mariota’s first read coming off the play action fake is to Wright (#13) on the slant route. Wright has Allen (#20) covering him in man coverage and this is a complete mismatch. Allen is bailing in his man coverage to respect Wright’s speed and Wright is wide open on the slant when he makes his cut. Mariota sees this and throws the ball as soon as he is at the top of his drop with accuracy for a first down. The negative is his mechanics again. Mariota on many of his throws at this point in the game is leaning backwards as he is making the throw. A lot of this is the pass rush has been in his face but on this pass he has a clean pocket but still is leaning backwards during his follow through. Mariota isn’t known for having the strongest of arms and it was one of his knocks going into the draft when compared to Winston and his cannon. Mariota’s accuracy when throwing like this is impressive and his release is lightning fast, but if he wants to be able to make a throw with zip on it, he is going to need to start getting his momentum going forward when he makes a throw. (6/10, 90 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #11

Situation: 2nd and 10 TEN 48
Description: Q2-(12:10) M. Mariota Pass Short Right to D. Walker to OAK 47 for 5 Yards (M. Smith)

I don’t know how Mariota (#8) has any accuracy on his throws at times. Mariota’s first read is to Green-Beckham (#17) on the slant route to his left. While Green-Beckham beats Carrie (#38) to the inside, Edwards Jr. (#97) drops into coverage from the line of scrimmage and gets underneath the slant route. When Mariota comes back to his second read on the right (Walker (#82) on the curl), Lofton (#50) is coming on the blitz unblocked (Thanks to RT Byron Bell (#76) not seeing him on the blitz) and is on top of Mariota. Walker is open because Smith (#53) has a long way to come from on his man coverage so Mariota does have his release valve to throw it to. What I don’t understand is how Mariota is able to generate that much velocity and accuracy on the ball when jumping backward on the throw to avoid Lofton. Most QBs would have taken the hit while planting and throwing but Mariota’s elite athleticism for a QB shows off as he avoids the hit and gets the completion. He makes the right read and throw on the play, but how he does it is not the way any QB is taught how to do it. (7/11, 95 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #12

Situation: 3rd and 5 OAK 47
Description: Q2-(11:25) M. Mariota Pass Incomplete Short Right to H. Douglas (D. Amerson)

Mariota (#8) shows off the athleticism the scouts salivated over on this play, but he also did quite a few things wrong. Mariota’s first read is to Walker (#82) on the flare route. Mariota doesn’t show the decisiveness that he showed before in the game as he had Walker open due to Carrie (#38) being occupied by the deep curl route of Fasano (#80). Mariota waits too long on this route, giving time for Carrie to get off of Fasano and into the flat zone he is responsible for. A quick throw to Walker is likely a first down but by the time Mariota is ready to throw the ball, Carrie would have gotten a pick six on any attempted throw. Mariota wisely comes off of Walker and goes to Fasano as he next read. Before Fasano opens up, Autry (#96) has split Bell (#76) and Spain (#60) and is in Mariota’s face. Mariota does a great job dodging Autry and rolls out to his right to try to find someone open. Rookie RB David Cobb (#23) is open underneath as soon as Mariota rolls to his right and a pass to him gives the Titans a chance for a first down. Mariota doesn’t even look at Cobb and instead looks at Fasano and Douglas (#83). This ends up being a mistake as both of them are well covered though as Allen (#20) has Fasano and Amerson (#29) is in tight coverage on Douglas. Douglas does get a little separation on Amerson when he breaks his route in the scramble drill, but Mariota is way too late in trying to throw to him. By the time Mariota throws it to Douglas, Amerson has recovered and makes a break on the ball. Mariota had multiple throws to get a potential first down (Walker, Cobb, and maybe Amerson) but he lacked the decisiveness and timing to make the throw needed for the first down. (7/12, 95 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #13

Sitatuon: 2nd and 14 OAK 36
Description: Q2-(10:43) M. Mariota Pass Short Middle to H. Douglas to OAK 31 for 5 Yards (M. Smith)

Mariota (#8) does everything right on this play. Mariota’s first read is Wright’s (#13) corner route on the right side of the field. Carrie (#38) does a good job dropping underneath the route and with Amerson over the top of it in his Cover 3 deep drop, Mariota doesn’t have a throw to get it to Wright. Mariota then comes back to his left and goes to Douglas (#83) on the slant route. Douglas finds the hole in the zone in between S Taylor Mays (#27) (who has to respect the flare route of Cobb (#23)) and Smith (#53) who drifted left due to Mariota looking left initially. Mariota sees Douglas open and makes the right read and throw on second down. (8/13, 100 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #14

Situation: 3rd and 9 OAK 31
Description: Q2-(9:58) M. Mariota Sacked at OAK 37 for -6 Yards (K. Mack)

Mariota (#8) doesn’t get any help from his receivers on this play as no one gets open for the Titans for a long time. What is worrying though on this play is Mariota locks on to one WR and doesn’t look off of Wright’s (#13) post route for most of the play. Carrie (#38) is on Wright’s hip the whole way and Thorpe (#31) peels off of Walker (#82) and brackets Wright. There is nowhere to Mariota to throw this ball to Wright and Mariota has to at least go through his progression and see if anyone else is open. By the time he comes off of Wright and looks at Fasano, DE/OLB Khalil Mack (#52) has beaten Bell (#76) and is putting the pressure on Mariota. Mariota tries to escape Mack by putting his head down and scrambling out of the pocket, but Mack chases him down for the sack. If Mariota keeps his head up though when scrambling, he would have seen that Cobb had finally opened up on an in route out of the backfield by beating Smith (#53) to the inside. If Mariota drops it off to Cobb, at worst the Titans have a shorter field goal. Instead, Mariota takes the sack and knocks the Titans out of field goal range.

Pass #15

Situation: 1st and 10 TEN 26
Description: Q2-(0:55) M. Mariota Pass Deep Right to D. Green-Beckham to TEN 48 for 22 Yards (C. Woodson; M. Smith)

I love how Mariota (#8) opens up Green-Beckham’s (#17) post route on this play. Mariota is looking to his left initially and is staring at the curl route of Walker (#82). Mays (#27) is sitting on the curl route in his hook zone, giving Mariota nowhere to throw to Walker. Mariota also sees that hs has moved Smith (#53) to his right, opening up a hole in the Tampa 2 zone for Green-Beckham to get into with Woodson (#24) bailing deep in his deep coverage and Carrie (#38) getting minimal depth on his hook zone coverage. Mariota whips his eyes to Green-Beckham and makes a great decisive read going to Green-Beckham. His mechanics is also on point and because of this, he is able to throw the ball with a lot of zip. He places the ball in the hole in the zone and gives Green-Beckham the opportunity to pick up yards after the catch. Mariota looks like a seasoned pro on this play. (9/14, 122 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #16

Situation: 1st and 10 TEN 48
Description: Q2-(0:33) M. Mariota Pass Short Right to D. Walker to OAK 43 for 9 Yards (T. Mays)

I almost don’t believe that Mariota (#8) even saw Walker (#82) before throwing this pass. Mariota’s first read is to Green-Beckham (#17) on the go route. With Amerson (#29) sitting on Green-Beckham’s hip and Woodson (#24) getting over the top of the go route, Mariota has no chance to make this throw. Walker is the next read for Mariota and he does get open as he gets Mays (#27) on his back when he makes his break. Mariota must have seen Walker out of the corner of his eye as he doesn’t even turn to look at Walker before throwing the ball to Walker. This is a good read and he throws it with decent timing (it’s a little late) and good accuracy for the completion. I am impressed with his field of vision and how he could see Walker out of the corner of his eye and trust his read without taking a good look at Walker first. (10/15, 131 Yards, 1 TD)

Pass #17

Situation: 3rd and 1 OAK 43
Description: Q2-(0:17) M. Mariota Pass Incomplete Short Middle to K. Wright

Mariota (#8) has Wright (#13) for a first down but his hesitation throws him off. Mariota’s first read on this play is to Wright on the slant route. Wright has beaten Carrie (#38) to the inside and is open for a first down. It is a tight window to throw the pass into for Mariota and he hesitates before making the pass and double clutches. If Mariota isn’t confident in making the pass, he should have gotten off of Wright and gone to his next read. Instead, he tries to throw too careful of a pass and misses Wright to the inside. Mariota needs to show the confidence that he showed on first and second down and trust what he sees when the pressure is on. He is 0/6 on 3rd down at this point of the game and all his incompletions but two have been on third down. He is too worried about making a big mistake on the big down and freezes up. (10/17, 131 Yards, 1 TD)

*Note: Before this play, Mariota spiked the ball and was not included in the article

Pass #18

Situation: 4th and 1 OAK 43
Description: Q2-(0:13) M. Mariota Pass Incomplete Short Right to D. Walker (T. Mays)

Mariota’s timing on his throw is off by half a second and it costs the Titans a first down. Mariota is reading the Go-Out route combination of Douglas (#83) and Walker (#82) respectively. Douglas is well covered by Amerson (#29) on the go route but Walker gets a bit of separation against Mays (#27) as Mays is bailing in his man coverage. Mariota should have thrown it as soon as Walker gets to the cut in his route and beat the break by Mays on the throw. Instead he throws it late, allowing Mays to make a break on the ball. Mariota’s accuracy also hurts him as he throws the ball slightly behind Walker. If the ball is thrown to the outside of Walker, Mays has no chance to break up this pass and Walker picks up the first down. Instead, the poor timing and mediocre accuracy of the ball gives Mays a chance to break up the pass and he takes advantage of it. If Mariota wasn’t ready to throw the ball with that quick of timing, he should have come back to his right and see that Green-Beckham (#17) had gotten separation on Thorpe (#31) on the slant route and is open for the first down. (10/18, 131 Yards, 1 TD)

For the 3rd Quarter passes, click on the next page