Marcus Mariota finding out what being an NFL QB is

Oct 18, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) is sacked by Miami Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon (50) and defensive end Cameron Wake (91) during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

After Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans beat the Tamp Bay Buccanneers 42-14, fans had Mariota’s golden jacket waiting for him. All I heard was, “I told you he was going to be great! It’s nothing for him to pick up being a quarterback in the NFL! He’s smarter and way better than Jameis Winston!”

And even though Winston played in a pro system in college, they went as far as to say that Mariota is more advanced. But that couldn’t be any further from the truth has Mariota was beaten 28-14 by Johnny Maziel the next week. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t won a game since because like Robert Griffin III before him, the NFL has figured him out.

At least Griffin was able to win NFL Rookie of the Year as opposed to Mariota’s Rookie of the Week for Week 1. Winston has actually picked up two NFL Rookie of the Week awards while Mariota has fallen to Earth. Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt has done a masterful job with Mariota, not making him do a lot.

But at some point, every quarterback in the NFL has to come out from behind the tree and play football. The Mariota’s first two games, he threw six touchdowns and two intercpetions for fans to get that golden jacket ready. Then in the next three games, Mariota threw three touchdowns and five interceptions.

What happened?

He was learning so quickly.

Actually he wasn’t.

Whisenhunt was bringing him along slowly, having him do things he did in college untill they took it away. He didn’t throw interceptions at first because he was put in position not to throw interceptions. For the most part, interception come on passes thrown late, down the middle or down the field, outside the numbers.

He also wasn’t asked to go through too many progressions before throwing the ball. He didn’t throw many passes down the field and outside the numbers in the first couple of games. And he didn’t throw the ball late at all in the first couple of games, making all his throws like playing catch and his receivers did the work after the catch.

But opposing defenses noticed that and took the middle of the field away, making him throw down the field and outside the numbers. Against the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, two of the better tackling teams, he had to go down the field and outside the numbers. His timing and accuracy in that area of the field was never good, not even in college so interceptions came.

After that, the one weapon he had left was his wheels and they took that away for now with a low hit. Don’t think that’s going to stop happening because the did it to Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick and R.G. III. And out of that bunch, Cunningham is the only one that actually learned how to be a pocket passer.

So at some point, Mariota is going to have learn how to be an NFL style pocket passer as he’s not there. I’m not saying he won’t get there but all this talk about him being there already is ridiculous. Mariota has a long way to go so Mariota and Titans fans need to just enjoy the process because he leg injury is just the beginning of it.

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