Titans’ Marcus Mariota knows his coach wants quick decisions
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Titans coach Mike Mularkey wants Marcus Mariota to play aggressively, yet smart. And he wants his quarterback to take good care of the football.
Mariota understands exactly what that means: Quick decisions.
“If something’s not there or something I feel is not open, either take off or throw the ball away and move on,” Mariota said Tuesday. “Sometimes I’m trying to force a throw here or there where I shouldn’t have, but again, that’s part of it. For me, I’ve just got to be better at some of those decisions and make them with the best of our team in mind.”
Mariota is part of the reason why the Titans (3-4) have won two of their last three games, yet his late turnover cost the Titans in a 34-26 loss to the Colts. Ball security will be paramount Thursday night when the Titans host Jacksonville (2-4).
That turnover came in a threegame span where Mariota has thrown eight touchdown passes, tying him with Tom Brady of New England and Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford for the most TDs in NFL in that span. Mariota also has just one interception with a 113.1 passer rating while running for 138 yards and another TD in those games.
But the second-year quarterback also hurt the Titans’ chances at their first three-game winning streak in five years when sacked and stripped of the ball for his latest turnover with 1:47 left in Sunday’s 34-26 loss to the Colts. Robert Mathis picked that ball up and ran 14 yards for the clinching TD.
Titans running back DeMarco Murray sees Mariota as a poised and confident quarterback.
“We have a chance to score when he’s back there,” Murray said. “Emotionally, he’s one of the best I’ve been around.”
Mariota sailed some passes high in the loss to the Colts, throwing a bit too much off his back foot. The No. 2 pick overall in 2015 out of Oregon prefers to work on tweaking his throwing motion either in warmups or during 7-on-7 drills during practice rather than during a game when he’s focused on attacking a defense.
He knows exactly what he did wrong on those high passes.
“It just kind of comes back to me being lazy with my feet,” Mariota said. “When I’m aggressive and things are moving quick and my feet are in place, I’m a better, more accurate thrower. When I get lazy and try to throw off my back foot, I tend to miss throws high, and that’s what happened in the game.”
Mariota had one of his best games in his short career in beating Jacksonville 42-39 when these teams last met in December. He threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns, while running for 112 yards more with a TD on an 87-yard run. That made him the only player in NFL history to pass for at least 250 yards and three TDs and run for more than 100 yards in the same game.
The quarterback now is working with his third different play-caller with the Titans firing coach Ken Whisenhunt last November. Mularkey and offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie changed the offensive playbook this offseason to simplify play calls and try to make the offense easier to operate.
Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said the result is more creative runs.
“I think he’s at a comfort level,” Bradley said on a conference call. “It’s a different style of offense that what he was accustomed to last year, so there’s some growing pains in that, but just as far as playing with poise and confidence, he appears to be playing, on film, pretty high.”
Notes: TE Delanie Walker (chest) practiced fully. Murray was limited to give him a little rest. Mularkey said S Rashad Johnson (neck) did not practice while WR Tajae Sharpe (knee) and LB Kevin Dodd (foot) were limited.