Marcus Mariota has had an historic opening day in the NFL (Getty).
Marcus Mariota isn’t just living up to expectations. He’s blowing them away. From his opening drive as Titans QB, Mariota has dominated the Tampa Bay Bucs, and headed into his first NFL halftime with a 35-7 lead.
The note still holds for 4!
Marcus Mariota is 2nd rookie to throw 4 TD passes in a season opener (Fran Tarkenton) (via @eliassports)
In an offense built for his skill set, Mariota has been shredding the Tampa Bay defense in hist NFL debut. It started with his first touchdown, when Mariota executed a perfect fake handoff before finding Kendall Wright for a 52-yard romp.
Marcus Mariota’s got this NFL thing DOWN.
52-yard TD to Kendall Wright? Yes, please. #TENvsTB http://t.co/LztvROd6A6
Mariota’s second touchdown was too easy, as he avoided the rush and found Bishop Sankey for the short score from 10 yards out. He didn’t use his legs to run much in the first half, but was rolling all over the place, similar to his Orgeon offense.
Mariota showed a quick release for his third TD pass of his first professional half, this time finding Harry Douglas to make it 28-7 Titans. Douglas is in his first season with the Titans, and is now part of a west-coast attack that could be dangerous this season.
Just when Titans fans couldn’t be happier with Mariota’s debut, a late interception put him back on the field before halftime. He once again calmly navigated through the Tampa defense, and finished off his historic half with a 1-yard TD pass to Delanie Walker.
Mariota’s halftime stats? 10/13, 175 yards and four touchdowns. That’s good for a QB rating of 157.9.
A perfect QB rating is 158.3. So I guess he’s pretty good.