Mariota gives Titans boost behind scenes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The reigning AFC offensive player of the week’s weekly pre-practice news conference went a little longer than normal.
For Ryan Tannehill, there was much to discuss and plenty with whom to speak Wednesday, including a visiting national reporter. It’s big news, this resurgence, both of a career and an entire NFL team. The Titans are within spitting distance of the playoffs in a season that once looked doomed, and he’s been the biggest reason.
He hasn’t just taken the Titans’ quarterback job and run with it. He has sprinted, trucked a few defenders, tackled a lineman and kept winning games.
The team’s other quarterback, as has been the case since mid-October, is aiding that success more than most realize.
Once the face of this franchise, Marcus Mariota is so far in the background now as to barely be visible. The season isn’t over, so that could still change in an instant. But they’re probably not long for each other, Nashville and Mariota. That’s become obvious as Tannehill’s heroics have played out.
The situation to which more people could relate would be Mariota’s.
Anyone can understand that feeling of being replaced, still showing up to work with lesser status and responsibility and then watching the new guy absolutely kill it in the role you held for years.
Now would you do everything you could to help that new guy?
That’s Mariota. Being a stand-up guy does not alone win football games. If it did, he might be undefeated. As is, he’ll probably be competing soon to be a starter again somewhere else.
He’ll be deeply missed around the Titans when he’s gone, though.
“I really believe that we’ve got a great group of guys in this locker room. I’ve built a lot of great relationships,” Mariota said Wednesday. “The hard work, the sacrifice, the time that they put in, it’s awesome to see it get rewarded.
“For me, I’m just going to do whatever I can to help support Ryan and help support this team, and hopefully we can continue to have success.”
The class that he has continued to show behind the scenes since being benched has been extraordinary. It has helped Tannehill have the success that he has had.
Sure, you might say, that’s his job. But such a reaction is not standard, especially in a demotion as emotional and awkward as this could have been. Ask anyone.
Ask Tannehill, who was an NFL backup for the first time this season, too. “Obviously, it is a difficult situation for him,” Tannehill said. “A ton of respect for Marcus, not only what he’s done in his football career but the person that he is. … He’s been nothing but professional throughout the whole process, been supportive, being able to just talk through things on game day, during the week. He helps me with watching the tape. I think he does everything he can possibly do to help me and this team along, which says a lot about his character as a person.”
Ask Mariota’s offensive coordinator. “Not an easy thing to go through,” Arthur Smith said. “I give all the credit in the world to Marcus and how he’s handled it. It takes a really mature, emotionally intelligent person to do it the way he’s done it.”
Ask his teammates. “He’s handled this whole entire situation better than, I would say, 95% of anybody probably in that situation could have handled it,” safety Kevin Byard said. “He’s one of the better human beings I’ve ever been around.”
This team’s respect for Mariota is what made the midseason decision to switch to Tannehill so delicate. Titans coaches and players, even now, remain hesitant to rave too much publicly about his performances and thus indirectly discredit Mariota’s past efforts.
Mariota’s popularity means this could have played out much differently for the Titans, but had Mariota responded negatively and caused division, that would have gone against the reasons why so many on the team respect him so much.
It would have gone against the class that Mariota exudes, perhaps never more in his career than right now.
“It’s important to me. I value respect and loyalty,” Mariota said. “Those are things that I grew up on. No matter what, every single day I try to treat everybody the same. It doesn’t matter if I’m the guy or if I’m not the guy. I think that’s a result of how I was raised and where I come from.”
With the Titans’ season having turned, Tannehill clearly deserves credit.
But the Titans’ other quarterback – at least for the time being – deserves some, too.