After perhaps the most impressive debut by any quarterback in NFL history, Marcus Mariota looks to show that his historic effort in Week 1 was no fluke. He leads the Tennessee Titans on the road against the Cleveland Browns in a Sunday afternoon matchup at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Titans vs. Browns 2015 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online
Marcus Mariota faces a Heisman-winning quarterback for the second week in a row.
Last week Mariota literally rewrote the NFL record books with his dazzling performance, completing 13 of 16 passes for 209 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. If you’re counting at home, that’s more touchdowns (4) than incompletions (3) ... and it was his first-ever pro game.
The fun started when Mariota threw a 52-yard touchdown pass 110 seconds into the game to give the Titans an early 7-0 lead. He joined Matt Ryan (2008) as the only players since 1960 with a touchdown pass of 50 yards or longer in the first two minutes of his league debut. Mariota was just getting warmed up at that point. His 12-yard scoring strike less than seven minutes later made him the first player to throw two touchdown passes in the first quarter of his debut, and when he piled up two more touchdown passes before halftime, he became the only rookie in NFL history to throw four touchdown passes in one half. Mariota finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3, the first rookie ever to do that on Kickoff Weekend.
One spectacular performance certainly doesn't make him a Hall of Famer or even an All-Pro quarterback, and he's definitely not going to look as good every week as he did last Sunday. But even so, considering the poise and accuracy that Mariota displayed against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Titans have to be optimistic that they just might have found their franchise quarterback.
As giddy as Titans fans might be following their 42-14 win over the Bucs, they probably also haven't forgotten that the team opened last season in similar fashion, beating the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-10. Tennessee went on to win just one more game the entire season. Getting to 2-0 would be a rare feat, though. Just once in the last 15 seasons have the Titans won their first two games: 2008, which also happens to be the last time they made the playoffs.
The Browns, on the other hand, put together one of the worst opening week performances in a 31-10 loss to the New York Jets. They struggled mightily on defense, allowing the Jets -- hardly an offensive juggernaut -- to score four touchdowns and pile up 333 yards. Although they nearly out-gained the Jets and held the advantage in time of possession, the Browns were really hurt by five turnovers and a whopping 12 penalties.
It was a sloppy game all around for Cleveland, not to mention the fact that starting quarterback Josh McCown suffered a concussion in the first quarter and it's uncertain when he'll be able to take the field again. Johnny Manziel will start on Sunday, but his up-and-down performance in relief of McCown showed that he is still developing as an NFL-caliber starting quarterback. He lost both of the games he started for the Browns last year, throwing for a meager 175 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Overall, this clearly was not a good start for a team trying to break a string of seven straight losing seasons. Beating the Titans won’t make them an instant playoff contender, but it could go a long way towards giving the team some much-needed confidence for the rest of the season.
How to Watch
When: 1 p.m. ET
Where: FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland
TV: CBS
Announcers: Tom McCarthy, Adam Archuleta
Online: NFL Game Pass

















