PRO: mobility. He can help the line by getting away from a potential sack and gaining yardage and first downs with his legs. CON: the potential injury risk whenever the QB runs the ball. Mariota missed at least one game due to injuries in each of his first four seasons. PRO: he has experience with Arthur Smith's offense from 2019 in Tennessee. CON: he struggled in that offense in 2019 and lost the starting job. CON: he only attempted two passes in 2021. PRO: his body hasn't taken the beating the last two seasons that it did every year through 2019 or like Matt Ryan did each of the last four years (Ryan was sacked 171 times in 2018-2021 and took countless more hits). The ultimate PRO: Mariota is cheap on the cap, making it possible for the team to get through their cap issues and still sign other players. That might be the most important aspect of having him, even though it really isn't about Mariota himself. The Falcons have far more competition across the lineup this year than in any of the last four years and will end up with a better roster because of it. Having an affordable veteran quarterback made that possible. The ultimate CON: The Athletic does a survey each year where league insiders (coaches, personnel guys) rate the veteran starting quarterbacks (rookies are excluded). This year Marcus Mariota ranked... (drum roll) ... 31st. He finished ahead of only Sam Darnold (no longer a projected starter), Mitch Trubisky (a caretaker like Mariota, waiting for Kenny Pickett to take over at any moment), Drew Lock (likely to be replaced by The Player To Be Named Later) and Geno Smith (projected backup to Lock and/or Player X). Side note: the Raiders used him purely as a "change of pace" last year, sort of like how the Saints used Taysom Hill. The play calls were nearly all runs, as he only attempted two passes in his 10 game appearances. Using him this way clearly affected how he was perceived in the survey by The Athletic. The article quoted an unnamed head coach as saying, "He is a change-of-pace guy... There are only so many things you can do with him. It can be good in the short term because the opponent has not prepared for him, but after he has been a starter for three or four games, the field definitely tilts to the defense." The question: Is Mariota really that bad? Well, maybe... When he lost the Tennessee starting job in 2019, his stats were adequate though his completion percentage was somewhat low. But Ryan Tannehill then came in and completed 70.3% of his passes (vs 59.4% for Mariota) and racked up a stunning 117.5 QB rating with the same offensive personnel (vs 92.3 for Mariota). Tannehill simply did a far better job of it than Mariota, which is a screaming red flag against Mariota. The stat that really jumps out from that season is that Mariota was sacked 25 times in roughly 5.5 games as a starter. Was he pushing too hard to extend plays and holding the ball too long? Just slow in working through the progression? Or was the somewhat shaky line still coming together? The theory: Mariota was a system-specific product whose absurd numbers in college were boosted by the nature of the scheme. He has much better physical tools and is a better student of the game than most other "system product" quarterbacks (eg Timmy Chang, Bryce Petty, Johnny Manziel), but he still came into the league without a foundation in the pro style of play. He also had four different offensive coordinators in his five seasons at Tennessee. That certainly didn't help. Each year, rather than working to get better within a system, he was stuck trying to learn a whole new system. This is a major setback for a young quarterback. (Atlanta fans have seen that movie before, with hometown hero D.J. Shockley having three head coaches and three offensive coordinators with completely different schemes in his first three seasons in the league. In year four the coaching staff dropped him to the practice squad in favor of keeping the hot new flavor, Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson.) My theory is that Mariota simply wasn't ready to take on a more advanced system when Arthur Smith arrived as the latest in the Titans OC parade in 2019. He wasn't as far along in his development as Smith and head coach Mike Vrabel expected, he struggled, and the coaches turned to Tannehill instead. Since then he's had a chance to learn a bit more after two seasons as a backup with the Raiders. He has said his time in the Raiders QB room was a blessing and that it helped him prepare for his next opportunity. And now he gets that next opportunity, which not coincidentally is another shot at Arthur Smith's style of offense. He's been through a full preseason and six weeks of regular season practice as the starter in this system once before. Dave Ragone's implementation won't be exactly the same as Smith's was in 2019, but it will be very close. Will Mariota be able to make reads and work through progressions quicker? It has been years since I've been able to say I have confidence in the Falcons coaching staff, and I still have hesitations even now. But I do believe my man Charles London will be a big help for Mariota. London was a running back in his own playing days rather than a quarterback, so I don't think he'll be as strong helping Desmond Ridder with footwork and mechanics. But Mariota doesn't need that. What he needs is to get the system down so cold that the reads are automatic and almost instantaneous. He needs to be able to operate without thinking too much and just cut loose without his mind bogged down remembering all the details of the play call. That might sound outrageous for a "veteran" quarterback. But keep in mind that Mariota has been thrown into a different / new system almost every single year of his career, including last year when he ran a special package as the "change-of-pace guy". I know firsthand that London is a very bright individual and that working with quarterbacks to implement a system will be a strong point for him as a coach. Pairing him with Mariota has the potential to be a perfect match. The other quotes from the survey article suggest that he has traits to succeed in the right system. "Tough guy, teammates respect him, smart... but they are not real talented around him and they are young" was one comment. "The biggest thing you have there in Atlanta is the lack of offensive line play... He is not as bad as some of these [other QBs in the same tier]. In a balanced offense, he can be productive" was another, from one team's personnel director. Those positive qualities (toughness, leadership) seem to fit with the quotes we've been getting from the Falcons articles this offseason. He might simply be a late bloomer. And if he flops or gets hurt, Desmond Ridder will be there waiting to take over and launch a new era in Atlanta.
Great write-up, Torgo on Mariota. This was on PFT this morning... Falcons quarterbacks coach Charles London called Marcus Mariota the team’s starting quarterback last week and Mariota reflected on how he’s settling into the role with his new team during a Monday press conference. Mariota said that he doesn’t think going from being a backup with the Raiders to a starter in Atlanta “necessarily changes my mindset” because he always prepared as the starter during his time in Vegas. The way the rest of the team responds to the No. 1 quarterback is different, however, and Mariota acknowledged that he’s taken on more of a leadership role this year. He also said that he’s feeling right at home in that role as training camp rolls on. “Yeah, I would say so,” Mariota said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That comes with the position, but I think especially with the Raiders, it was a lot of guys and we all collaborated and tried to make the offense what it was. I don’t feel like I’m saying more than I need to or if there is any weirdness or awkwardness from me. I’m very comfortable with where I’m at and just trying to make these guys feel comfortable so we can go out there and play well.” Opinions about how well the Falcons are going to play come the fall haven’t been overly optimistic, but head coach Arthur Smith said he’s not paying attention to them and a strong year for Mariota would make it easier for others to ignore them as well.
It's interesting that the media is finally picking up on the idea that Mariota goes into preseason as the #1. The team has been pretty clear on that all along. I think part of the confusion came from another quote from Charles London when he praised Ridder for how quickly he's picking up the playbook. The press took that one line and ran with it, giving the impression that Ridder was right there ready to compete for the starting role as soon as training camp began. London and Arthur Smith had also said Ridder still had a long way to go, but somehow that part got completely overlooked before. In that sense it's good that London clarified it last week and nixed the nonsense before training camp got into high gear.
Yep, I remember it being said that Ridder was very advanced in his head... the mind part of the game, but that still doesnt mean he is able to waltz in and execute. That will come with time/experience, in my opinion.
