I re-watched the game without emotion (and sober) & feel totally different about Mariota's game

[Face]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't an overreactor, I lose my shit during games & oftentimes my posts range from passive aggressive to completely irrational. This is why I try to rewatch games, it really takes the emotion out of it & you can focus on the play.

 

Marcus Mariota played WAY better than I thought. I know it's easy to play the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game, but if Delanie doesn't have that brutal drop Mariota's stats a few mins into the 3rd qtr would've been:15/20 250 2/2, 1 running TD. He had completions at that point of 15, 18, 24, 42, and 75 yards. Walker would've been a 17 yarder. This guy had numerous high level throws, the 42 yarder to Walker was just insane anticipation. He made 4-5 throws that were better than anything Ben did. Of course Ben had 3 straight drives where he simply picked us apart, which brings me to my next point.

 

This offense doesn't have many "easy throws". This is an old school,  Bruce Arians type, downfield passing game. Mularkey said it best...they ask a lot of their QB. They ask him to make more big time throws than possibly any other offense, the guy is constantly throwing deep corners, deep posts, comebacks, etc. I said in another thread that if all it took to score 40 points was to get an athletic QB & run a one read offense everybody would do it. Well, the same applies to Big Ben picking us apart short. It's obviously a lot harder than it looks & isn't just a matter of play calling. And I don't want to turn this into a Mularkey bash fest, but I don't think it would hurt to install some more short, rhythm type throws.

 

Anyway, there's a few other things I took out of this game that I'll mention but this post would be way too long. But I think the main theme is that this offense is close. Very close, in my opinion anyway. We've played 3 brutal defenses the last 3 weeks & the last 2 especially have had some brutal drops, mistakes, and luck. But Marcus easily could've put up monster numbers the last 2 weeks, against some top defenses. I really think this offense could be close to doing some very nice things.

[scine09]

You overreact?  Come on Face.

 

The pass to Walker seemed effortless.  What did it travel, 35 yards in the air?  He had a similar throw to Matthews in the Houston game right before the second TD that he got hurt on.  

 

I've been saying all along he's better than last year.  They're asking more of him and thus there's been more mistakes.  But as a thrower he's better.

[Face]

2 minutes ago, scine09 said:

You overreact?  Come on Face.

 

The pass to Walker seemed effortless.  What did it travel, 35 yards in the air?  He had a similar throw to Matthews in the Houston game right before the second TD that he got hurt on.  

 

I've been saying all along he's better than last year.  They're asking more of him and thus there's been more mistakes.  But as a thrower he's better.

The pass to Walker was a Brees/Brady level throw. The anticipation was incredible, he threw it right before Walker even broke in btwn the LBer & safety. It was nothing short of awesome. 

 

And he threw an 18 yard corner route to Decker that was spectacular.

 

Looking back, and not just because he's killing it in NE, I kind of wish we made the deal for Cooks. Mularkey's offense asks ALOT of the WR's. I told you I went back & read old articles of him when he was elsewhere, the guy is always miserable with his WR's. I think it's because he asks them to constantly get open on vertical routes & make tough catches. It's a lot for a rookie WR, it might've been smarter to focus on vet help.

[IsntLifeFunny]

Welcome aboard my man. The idiocy of the offense is that we have a QB who is tailor made for a WC approach, yet we almost never use him as such. The kid has proven he’s one of the best play action seam throwers in the game, if not the best. If we would allow him to get in rhythm on short throws while allowing Henry some IZ OZ from shotgun this offense would put up 30+ every single game because defenses would have to cover the entire field.

 

Right now defenses are playing a lot of deep zone and only keeping 7 in the box because Murray is done and Henry sucks under center. A lack of drag routes, RB screens, flares, and rub routes is allowing defenses to play back and be able to cover a lot of the longer developing routes. Since the line isn’t holding up as well this year almost all of our explosive plays are coming from PA. If we would open up the shotgun run more often I think we would see our offense start to hum. Henry needs 15-20 shotgun carries a game. Mix in the quick hitters across the middle to draw in the defense while getting some actual usuage from our running game and our play action will kill them over the top with more consistency. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by IsntLifeFunny

[Tomachek]

They need to start up tempo every game to get Mariota into a rhythm, I think some quick easy designed completions will help calm his nerves and prevent the overthrows we constantly see in the beginning of the game.  The move into the ground game then build the play action game.

[Stan]

They need to throw down the field more. I just don’t understand why not. It worked to perfection on two nice plays down the field. 

[Supdawg]

I just don't think Mularkey is capable of changing his offense very much. This is why I am 100% on board with replacing the entire coaching staff. If Mularkey could bring in an OC and let him run his own system, I'd be perfectly fine keeping him. I just have serious doubt he will do that. I've seen enough evidence and my mind is made up. We need to move on from this staff. 

[Huston]

All this Marcus is regressing is nonsense, glad a few more people are coming around. His faults are small things you learn as you mature as a QB. He does it all, quick release coupled with quick processing skills and accuracy. The Titans are in great shape at QB.

[Cajuntitan]

A lot of the timing and footwork issues that have existed this year I fully expect to be worked out in the offseason when our quarterback has the time to work it out instead of having to rehab. 

 

His pocket presence and the elimination of the fumbles is impressive in and of itself. Also getting reps with these guys will only help. His connection to Matthews and Walker on the field is what our ENTIRE offense could end up looking like with more reps, time, and familiarity.

[Number9]

Taywan Taylor is designed for a quick hitting offense and I thought that was why they drafted him.

 

We are in a great spot.  By all our estimations, this team is not playing up to it best level and we're solidly in the hunt.  Another year of improvement.  

 

Mularkey appears to be the coach.  AAS gave him a job and he's about to turn in his second winning season.  He also looks like he will take the team to the playoffs in his second season as HC.  He may not be the right guy, but I can't see a scenario when he would be fired.  @Face points out how close the Steelers game was to not being a blowout.  We are just not clicking right now.  We got to humming in Jax.  https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/2017/9/22/16323530/all-22-review-titans-jaguars

 

We can start putting some games together in Dec/Jan and nobody will want to play us.  We have a new weapon that's just getting his feet wet, but Davis could be a big factor in the games by then.  We tend to overlook the enormous improvement in our teams play, but that's part too of why we can beat teams without everything clicking.  Mariota is one tough sob.  He's got that quiet resilience that keeps the team coming back out to run the next play.  The team has a lot of composure to be so young.

 

A lot of people fell all apart around here over the Steelers loss, I doubt the team did.

[big2033]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

They need to throw down the field more. I just don’t understand why not. It worked to perfection on two nice plays down the field. 

It's funny ... @Face just said in the opening of this thread that he needs more quick, short throws.

 

And you're asking for more downfield throws.

 

This is part of the issue here. We're not sure what we want.

 

But I agree with Face that we need more shorter throws. Right now the short throws are for screens and RB passes. We need some quick slants.

 

----

 

Despite the issues anyone has with this offense, NOBODY can disagree that the offense looks multiple with Davis and Jackson in the lineup. I hope it continues to expand. To be honest, a quicker, pass-catching RB may be needed for that to happen.

 

The offense actually featured a ton of the things people wanted going forward. He just eyed down receivers repeatedly in this game.

Edited November 20, 2017 by big2033

[ctm]

19 minutes ago, Number9 said:

Taywan Taylor is designed for a quick hitting offense and I thought that was why they drafted him.

 

We are in a great spot.  By all our estimations, this team is not playing up to it best level and we're solidly in the hunt.  Another year of improvement.  

 

Mularkey appears to be the coach.  AAS gave him a job and he's about to turn in his second winning season.  He also looks like he will take the team to the playoffs in his second season as HC.  He may not be the right guy, but I can't see a scenario when he would be fired.  @Face points out how close the Steelers game was to not being a blowout.  We are just not clicking right now.  We got to humming in Jax.  https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/2017/9/22/16323530/all-22-review-titans-jaguars

 

We can start putting some games together in Dec/Jan and nobody will want to play us.  We have a new weapon that's just getting his feet wet, but Davis could be a big factor in the games by then.  We tend to overlook the enormous improvement in our teams play, but that's part too of why we can beat teams without everything clicking.  Mariota is one tough sob.  He's got that quiet resilience that keeps the team coming back out to run the next play.  The team has a lot of composure to be so young.

 

A lot of people fell all apart around here over the Steelers loss, I doubt the team did.

Or to put it another way, C. Davis season has been a disappoint thus far.  It's just late November.  Real NFL football hasn't even started yet.  Davis still has the opportunity to redeem himself with just 1 or 2 impact plays against the jags or in the playoffs. I'll wait and judge him at season end.

[TitanDuckFan]

16 minutes ago, big2033 said:

It's funny ... @Face just said in the opening of this thread that he needs more quick, short throws.

 

And you're asking for more downfield throws.

 

This is part of the issue here. We're not sure what we want.

 

But I agree with Face that we need more shorter throws. Right now the short throws are for screens and RB passes. We need some quick slants.

 

----

 

Despite the issues anyone has with this offense, NOBODY can disagree that the offense looks multiple with Davis and Jackson in the lineup. I hope it continues to expand. To be honest, a quicker, pass-catching RB may be needed for that to happen.

 

The offense actually featured a ton of the things people wanted going forward. He just eyed down receivers repeatedly in this game.

Today's MCM article points out that our tightly condensed formations allows the defense to operate the same way, so the short throws are that much easier to defend. 

The short field is crowded and makes separation that much more difficult to achieve.

[Minntitfan]

We need more Cowbell.

[thor]

Again, too many rookie mistakes by the offensive rookies... Also, after the Titans scored to begin the 2nd half, what do you think the game would have been like if the Titans recover the fumble in the middle of the field by Antonio Brown... One bounce could have changed the game completely around...