For Former Oregon QB Marcus Mariota, a Trip to the Bench Could be a Blessing in Disguise
Marcus Mariota has been sent to the bench and replaced by former Miami Dolphins 2012 8th-overall pick Ryan Tannehill.
This is plain sad for Duck fans, as each one of us wanted nothing but the best for Marcus, and still yearn to see him excel with his magical talents in the big-leagues. It’s fairly open for discussion at the moment whether or not Tennessee just isn’t the right fit for him, or if his playstyle just has not transferred well enough to the biggest stage there is for a quarterback.
As disgruntled as we may all feel as fans, I can only imagine how defeated Marcus must feel. Watching him throughout the years, we’ve seen flashes greatness mixed in with, well, flashes of not-greatness. He just has not been able to get the ball rolling consistently as a starter in the NFL.
It’s hard to blame Mariota for such inconsistencies, as he’s been coached by three different head coaches, and four different offensive coordinators in his first five seasons as a pro. For the former Heisman winner, each year has been somewhat like a rookie season; learning new playbooks, schemes, and confines within a new system. If you ask me, that sounds like a nightmare.
The NFL is brutal, and it will chew players up and spit them out. Praise and blame are the same things for quarterbacks, knowing that if you’re winning people will love you, and if you’re losing...good luck. Next to the head coach, no one takes the blame for team deficiency more than player under center.
When Mariota led the Titans in 2017 to their first playoff win since 2003, spectators felt he’d be the face of the franchise for the next decade. Now we are here — a season-and-a-half later — and not only his coach, but the majority of football critics have seemingly quit on him. It doesn’t feel fair, given the rapid transitions he’s had to endure each year. Yet, it is what it is. We’ve seen this happen to a thousand different quarterbacks in the NFL.
On the other hand, there’s plenty of responsibility Marcus has to absorb. As far as the eye-test goes, he doesn’t look much different than he did when he was a rookie and second-year player. Yes, he’s been more careful with the ball — he's thrown only two interceptions through six weeks — yet I see this as more of a bi-product of his unwillingness to try and make any big plays. He’s been an overly-cautious game-manager, and when a team gets down early in this league, these types of QB's rarely succeed.
Another concern is in his body language. Throughout his career, Mariota has been constantly banged up and is yet to play an entire season without missing at least one game. He added 15 pounds in the offseason for this very reason: to be less nimble — and yet, he’s looked more afraid than ever in the pocket. It’s apparent he fears getting hurt again and doesn’t trust his offensive line (understandably, they’ve been dreadful). Simply put: it does not look like he’s having fun out there.
Looking on the bright side of things, this could potentially be an opportunity for Marcus to start over with a new franchise, should he be traded to another team, or sign elsewhere, which is highly likely. It clearly isn’t working in Tennessee, and I don’t know about you, but Mike Vrabel doesn’t necessarily seem like the open-minded, evolutionary dream-coach every dual-threat quarterback hopes of playing for. I should mention that the rest of Tennessee's offensive personnel is a step above janky, save for running back Derrick Henry. It’s hard to make plays without playmaking receivers.
In both a sarcastic and serious sense, we wish Ryan Tannehill the best. As someone who’s made an effort to watch most of Mariota’s games, I’ll faithfully say that I believe he has a lot of good football left in him and that this is not the end. I was somber to hear of his benching but quickly realized that this may be a blessing in disguise. Sometimes you just have to cut the cord in a bad situation.
The truth is, we don’t want our beloved Marcus playing for a cursed program, and no offense to the Titans, but they haven’t won a championship since 'Nam. That’s a long time, man. Not to say we weren’t hopeful that he could turn things around, but I expect that there are very few players alive that could.
We’ve dealt with this already when Joey Harrington was more-or-less behind bars with the Detroit Lions back in the mid-2000s. Joey was a bit of a different story but played for yet another cursed program nonetheless. We’ve seen it with many players in pro sports — sometimes a change in location is all a guy needs to succeed.
Hopefully, sooner or later, Marcus will get a better opportunity to show what he can do. This could just be wishful thinking, but it’s educated wishful thinking. From leading comeback victories in the playoffs to finishing games with perfect passer ratings and breaking rookie debut records, we know he’s perfectly capable of shining just as bright as he did in college. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see, hoping that a change in scenery could make all of the difference in what was once a promising career.
