Marcus Mariota, one of the stars of Quarterback, probably is pondering whether he’s still going to be QB2 with the Eagles.
If you watched the Netflix docuseries, then you know about Mariota and his struggles last season in Atlanta. The former Heisman winner from Oregon left the Falcons for a fresh start in Philadelphia. His new job was backup to Jalen Hurts. But these two exhibition games are showing he has not gotten rid of the problems that plagued him with the Falcons.
The chatter has gotten so loud that reporters asked Eagles coach Nick Sirianni whether Marcus Mariota still is the second-string quarterback. Maybe it should be former Stanford star Tanner McKee, who the Eagles picked in the sixth round of this year’s draft.
Marcus Mariota started Thursday night’s game between the Eagles and Browns. And there probably were a 100 different reasons not to watch a mid-August exhibition game that ended in an 18-18 tie. But coaches use these preseason contests, in part, to establish a regular season depth chart.
Mariota completed nine of his 17 passes for 86 yards with an interception. The Browns defense also sacked him three times. On another play, he ran for five yards. The normally vibrant Eagles offense generated only 88 yards through seven first-half series. Now, if Hurts replicates his fabulous performance from last fall, then no one cares what Mariota did in August. But quarterbacks miss games because of injury. That’s part of football. A shoulder injury sidelined Hurts for two games last season. So it’s coaching malpractice not to have a good backup ready.
“I was sloppy. I can do a better job of getting our guys operating cleaner and more efficiently,” Marcus Mariota told reporters after the game. “But that is what preseason is for. Kind of get some of that stuff ironed out. Clean off some of the rust. We’ll find ways to get better.”
McKee, the rookie, ignited the Philly offense in the second half. Now, we always need to provide this context. He wasn’t competing against the top Brown defenders. Rather, he faced guys like him who are giving it their best to make an NFL roster.
But Sirianni wanted no part of instigating a second-string quarterback competition.
“Way too early on this,” Sirianni said, “Marcus is our backup, and (he’s) pleased with the way Tanner is playing.”
Sirianni also pointed out that the offensive staff is in the process of finding out what plays work best for Marcus Mariota. Everyone still is in the discovery process.
“It’s also us finding out what he does well, too,” Sirianni said. “What he sees well, what looks good to him. I know he didn’t play the way he wanted to (Thursday). I wouldn’t say he struggled the last game (against the Ravens). You guys might have said that. I didn’t say that.
“He ran around and made some good plays and moved the ball really well with him in there against Baltimore. So (against the Browns), yeah, obviously not up to his standard. But it’s about us finding what works for him. And that’s just us learning him. That’s us working together to figure that out.”
More must-reads: