Marcus Mariota's interception streak ended Friday night in the Tennessee Titans' preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons. His streak of not throwing a single pick in training camp did not carry over into a live game.
Marcus Mariota tosses interception against Falcons, ending his streak
Marcus Mariota didn’t throw an interception in training camp, but he tossed one against the Falcons in the preseason opener on Friday.
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Mariota’s first play was a 12-yard pass to wide receiver Harry Douglas. He rolled out to the right and hit Douglas for the short gain. It was only a couple plays later when Mariota took his first sack, a big 11-yard loss at the hands of Tyson Jackson. He completed another pass for a couple yards, and then it happened -- he threw his first interception.
That’s Justin Durant getting the pick, and if No. 95 gets that block at the end, he’s probably gone for a touchdown. Fortunately for the Titans, he didn’t make that block and the Falcons took over at the end of the play. That drive ended in a field goal.
Unfortunately, it didn’t get any easier for Mariota from there. His next drive ended with a fumble recovered by Paul Worrilow, who took it 14 yards for a touchdown, putting the Falcons up, 17-0. It was an ugly fumble, and things were looking pretty darn bad for Mariota at this point.
Fortunately, he managed to get things under control on the following drive, completing 5 of 5 passes for 78 yards, in a drive that was capped off by a Dexter McCluster rushing touchdown. He was done after that drive, finishing with 7 of 8 completions for 94 yards with no touchdowns, an interception, fumble and a 76.0 passer rating.
Coming into Friday’s contest, Mariota’s performance had received positive reviews throughout training camp. He’s completed 62.9 percent of his passes and hasn’t thrown an interception in 186 attempts. For comparison’s sake, not a single Titans quarterback completed more than 59.8 of his passes in 2014.
The Titans were one of the worst offensive teams in the league last season, finishing 30th in points scored per game. Tennessee also finished in the bottom five in total yards.
Conventional wisdom says it is dangerous to brand rookie quarterbacks as saviors, though a number of first-year pass throwers have recently enjoyed successful rookie campaigns. Most notably, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III all made major impacts in their freshman seasons.
The Titans have started nine different quarterbacks since 2006, including five within the last three years. Vince Young, whom the Titans selected as the No. 3 overall pick in 2006, flamed out of the league after five years and never threw more than 12 touchdown passes in a season. The Titans took Jake Locker with the eighth pick in the 2011 draft, and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns twice in his four-year stint under center.
With predecessors like that, the bar seems to be relatively low for Mariota. Titans fans may be looking for him to dazzle beginning day one, but given recent history, they would probably settle for competence.
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