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Mariota throws 4 TDs, outplays Winston, Titans rout Bucs
Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota has created quite an interesting problem for himself one game into his professional career. Hard as this is to believe, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner has nowhere to go but down.
That's because you can't top perfection. And that's what Mariota was in the Titans' 42-14 season-opening road win over the Tampa Bay Bucs - perfect.
But better to let the numbers do the talking: Quarterback rating? A perfect 158.3. Touchdown passes to interceptions? Try four to zip. Pass completions that covered more than one yard: 11-for-11.
The really important stat is the victory, however, which breaks a Titans losing streak that had reached 10 games by the close of the 2014 regular season.
"Now he has shown everybody what he can do in a real game, and a lot of people will be surprised,'' said receiver Kendall Wright, who caught the first Mariota touchdown pass, a 48-yarder. "But that's the way he played all training camp and all of the preseason. It's what we expected."
But what to expect from this point forward? Because this perfect performance came against the Bucs, it may be best not to make too much of it. A lot of teams will beat Tampa Bay this season. And it's hard to believe that Mariota, however special, is good enough to turn a 2-14 team into a playoff contender.
Yet to believe the first week's scores, the schedule doesn't look overwhelming early. The next game is at Cleveland, which fell by 21 to the New York Jets. The home opener on Sept. 27 comes against Indianapolis, which lost by 13 to Buffalo.
Even as flawed as these Titans seem to be, should they start the season 3-0, who knows what could happen? Especially when seven of their remaining 13 games would come against teams who lost on the opening weekend.
There's also the "X-Factor" regarding Mariota, which seems to have already wrapped itself around his teammates.
"Marcus is so poised, he is so confident,'' tackle Taylor Lewan said on the Titans' website. "The way he plays football, he is a born leader, and I am excited to have him on the team."
He's on the Titans instead of the Bucs because Tampa Bay chose former Florida State quarterback and 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston, leaving the Titans to pick Mariota at No. 2. And no single game, particularly the first regular-season game of these two quarterbacks' careers, should determine which franchise made the better pick.
But Winston looked like an uncertain rookie from the beginning, when he tossed a pick-six on his first pass attempt. True, the last rookie QB to do that was named Brett Favre, and his career turned out OK.
That said, Mariota looked like anything but a rookie. In fact, he was the first rookie QB to throw four touchdown passes in his first game since Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton. And even Tarkenton didn't accomplish that in the opening half, as Marvelous Marcus did. Nor did so much as a single moment from Sunday lead anyone to believe that if he can stay healthy, Mariota won't also one day wind up in the Hall.
Kudos are also due Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt for not only pushing the front office to draft Mariota, but also for naming him the starter long before the opening game. This franchise has made more than one questionable choice at quarterback the past decade, temporarily wrecking its future with the likes of Vince Young and Jake Locker. But as the Voice of the Titans, Mike Keith, noted during the exhibition season, "Marcus gets it. He understands what it means to be the franchise quarterback."
Now comes the hard part, of course. No one should expect Mariota to duplicate what he achieved against the Bucs. Neither Tom Brady nor Peyton Manning could necessarily duplicate that performance, even if it was against Tampa Bay.
But during Sinday's first half, ESPN's Brett McMurphy tweeted that Mariota's college coach at Oregon, Mark Helfrich, had told him before the draft that an NFL head coach and GM told him, "Marcus Mariota not having any red flags was a red flag."
Let Mariota keep turning in anything close to the performances he did against Tampa Bay and his critics might want to start waving a white flag of surrender.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com