Titans hinge on Mariota’s every word as a leader

Perhaps all you need to know about what the Tennessee Titans deep down think of their quarterback, Marcus Mariota, was summed up in a revealing 20-second segment on Monday Night Football.

It wasn’t the high-fives teammates gave Mariota for completing 23 of 32 passes for a career-high 306 yards and a touchdown in the breakthrough 36-22 victory over Indianapolis. It wasn’t the pats on the shoulder pads for an 11-for-11 streak of completions in the crucial last three, game-determining scoring drives. Nor the words of praise in media sound bites afterward.

It was guard Quinton Spain preparing to go rip the ventricles out of Colts defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins. And then being talked out of felonious assault by Mariota.

It is one thing for teammates to talk about how much they value their quarterback, and the Titans are regularly effusive in their admiration of the Saint Louis School graduate. But it is another to see the way they rally around him and — even in intense, emotional moments — respond to his counsel.

After Mariota lofted a 53-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Taywan Taylor to break a 22-all tie, he was planted by a late chest shot from the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Hankins.

Officials were in the process of calling a roughing the passer penalty, but Spain was clearly intent on exacting his own form of justice.

We’ve seen Titans rise up to defend their quarterback in aggrieved circumstances before, of course. There was the memorable face-mask-to-face-mask confrontation between tackle Taylor Lewan and Richard Sherman after a late, out-of-bounds hit in the Seattle game.

But what was different this time was that before Spain could rearrange Hankins’ internal organs, Mariota brought his teammate to a quick halt. No easy undertaking given Spain’s 6-foot, 5-inch, 335-pound frame and the anger that had stirred him.

Mariota did it by wrapping his right arm around Spain and offering compelling counsel. Then, Mariota pointed him downfield to go celebrate with teammates.

“That’s what leaders do,” Titans head coach Mike Mularkey admiringly told the media at his weekly press conference. “The linemen, they would like to do some things they could probably go to jail for when they see their quarterback get hit. It’s very frustrating and I could understand why.”

Mariota’s availability for the game had been an 11th-hour announcement due to a hamstring strain suffered against the Texans on Oct. 1 that had kept him out the previous week against Miami.

Clearly, Mariota was not close to being 100 percent, and because of his hobbled state, he had been required to eschew running and become, for one of the few times in his career, strictly a pocket passer against Indianapolis.

His lone run was a key fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak for a first down. It was the first quarterback sneak he’d executed since his senior year with the Crusaders. Mariota said he believed it came against either Kamehameha or Punahou.

As such, the Titans, to a man, understood not only the depth of his commitment to playing in an important AFC South Division game but how vulnerable he was.

Mularkey said, “(Mariota’s) not just their teammate, this is a really close friend to them. They don’t like to see that take place. It happened too many times (Monday) night, our guys had had enough. But, I’ll give them credit. They maintained their composure and I give Marcus (Mariota) a lot of credit for immediately responding and pulling him back, which is easier said than done. “

Said Mularkey: “He’s as tough as I’ve been around.”

Apparently his Titans teammates feel the same way.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.