Tale of the Tape: Titans-Jaguars

I would be doing this wrong if I didn't start with Marcus Mariota.  He was absolutely brilliant on Sunday, winning in nearly every way possible.  People are going to remember the 87 yard touchdown run, but he was equally spectacular through the air as well.  We are seeing some next level stuff from Mariota already, which is exciting to think about.  He's on a different level mentally.

Check out this throw.

I went deeper earlier today, but it's worth showing again. You don't see this kind of eye manipulation from a rookie. This is a vet move.  Mariota gets exactly what he wants from the linebacker and hits Walker for six.

What makes Mariota so great is how quickly he can process information.  If you watch him closely, you'll always see him working through reads.  What is even more impressive is that he knows where each receiver should be. He usually is going through his reads with a backup plan in mind.  It's usually a backside player that has stopped on a curl or is dragging late across the middle.

This isn't even the best example, but Mariota knows where everyone is supposed to be at all times.  Whether or not they end up there has been a different story this season, but watch how quickly he comes back to Dorial Green-Beckham here.  He sees him on his second or third read, gives him a second to come into the window and strikes.

Speaking of Green-Beckham, we saw a little bit of everything from the rookie receiver against the Jaguars. He's getting more opportunities to run different routes that we haven't seen before. Here's a play where Green-Beckham gained separation on a dig route, one of the first that I've seen him run.

DGB (bottom of your screen) runs a fantastic route.  The ball is out and on time.  We have all been waiting for some chemistry to develop between Mariota and Green-Beckham and it looks like it's starting to happen.  Dorial had at least one bad rep on Sunday, dropping a ball and causing an interception.  However, he was able to bounce back immediately by catching a tough ball over the middle and shedding some tackles for a score.

It was a tough game defensively, to put it lightly. Allen Robinson and Blake Bortles torched the secondary time and time again, picking on Perrish Cox.  Robinson ripped apart Cox and the rest of the secondary time after time for three scores.  Finding another man to man cornerback this season has to be high on the to-do list for the Titans' front office.

The pass rushers didn't do too much to help out the secondary.  LeBeau wasn't able to get home with any of the pressures that he was dialing up.  Finally, on the last play defensively, Orakpo got around the left side to seal the game.

Overall, we'll remember this game for Marcus Mariota.  He's got a chance to do something really special here, but we knew that before Sunday. Hopefully Mariota continues to develop more chemistry with Dorial Green-Beckham down the stretch.  That combination could become lethal for the next coaching staff.