Mariota Folds Under Pressure
For Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, this preseason is about learning how to adjust to a new style of offense from the one he played in at college. While he seemed to do well at handling snaps from under center, his offensive line was not able to protect him well enough for him to be successful in his first start as a pro.
Mariota played just a short period of time, completing seven of his eight pass attempts. And while that completion percentage is good, Mariota had anything but a good day on the field. He was sacked once for a loss of 11 yards, threw an interception, and lost a fumble as well against an Atlanta defense that was flat out terrible for the majority of last season.
The question surrounding Mariota should not be his ability to play the quarterback position, but will instead be whether or not his offensive line can protect him so he is not pressured into mistakes. This is the same issue that saw early draft pick Jake Locker flame out as a quarterback in Tennessee, which will happen to Mariota if he doesn’t receive adequate protection.
Winston A Step Slow
Jameis Winston had decent protection for the majority of his appearance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Minnesota Vikings, but it was his passing that betrayed him, with the Vikings taking full advantage of his mistakes in the first half of the game.
Winston completed only 9 of his 19 passes, and also threw an interception which allowed the Vikings to have the ball deep in Buccaneers territory, which they quickly took advantage of by scoring a touchdown. But beyond the interception, Winston had a few mechanical issues that were very obvious in his first showdown with a professional defense.
Most importantly, Winston was looking at each of his receivers for too long, allowing defenders to know where he was throwing the ball before he threw it. This also presented an issue when the receivers he stared down were covered by defenders, leaving him with nowhere else to throw the ball in a timely fashion. That tardiness in looking around the field caused him to be sacked twice by the Minnesota defense.
Both Winston and Mariota should start for their teams this season, with both looking like the answers as far as week one starters are concerned for the Buccaneers and Titans, respectively. Therefore, American football tipsters should know that these issues will persist for at least the early portion of the season. This will have a huge impact on wagers surrounding those two players, as well as the teams on the field.
By: Jason M. Sanin]]>
