He might occasionally overthrow a receiver or fail to tuck the ball away securely, but quarterback Marcus Mariota always manages to say the right uplifting things.
It is a talent at which he is already All-Pro.
So, it was no surprise that Mariota provided a positive, upbeat reaction to the Tennessee Titans’ announcement that Mike Mularkey was being elevated to head coach from the interim position he held the final nine weeks of a 3-13 season.
“He did an incredible job with what happened this year and handling everything,” Mariota said in a statement on the team’s website. “I am very excited to have him as a coach and I look forward to getting to work.”
Clearly it is an “excitement” not shared by the majority of long-suffering Titan faithful who have earned a right to be skeptical. Eight-one percent of the respondents to a poll by The Tennesseean, a Nashville, Tenn., newspaper, were not in favor of the move.
You wonder, if pressed to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, how many of Mariota’s agents and advisers were thrilled with the choices made by Tennessee owners in the Titans’ new lineup of general manager, head coach, quarterback coach, etc.
With Mariota being the “centerpiece of our franchise” — as Titans’ CEO Steve Underwood has put it— there was a need for Tennessee to get people around him who can put the Heisman Trophy winner in a system where he and the team can flourish. And, of course, keep him upright.
The feeling was that the Titans, a franchise notorious for big flops and penny-pinching, might actually do something dynamic with the opportunity.
When it didn’t, perusing a limited four-man pool of interviewees, Underwood sought to put the best face on it all, lauding Mularkey as, “sort of a quarterback whisperer” at the press conference.
Never mind that Mularkey was 2-7 with the Titans and is 18-39 in his career as a head coach with stops at Jacksonville (2-14) and Buffalo (14-18). He did good work with Kordell Stewart in Pittsburgh and Matt Ryan in Atlanta as an assistant, but a “whisperer?”
About the best thing that can be said of the choice is that Mularkey provides some continuity for Mariota instead of a third head coach in two years.
Of course, the Titans’ had also touted Mularkey’s predecessor, Ken Whisenhunt, as a molder of quarterbacks when they selected Mariota with the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, citing work with Ben Roethlisberger.
Whisenhunt lasted seven games (1-6 record) into Mariota’s first season before ownership cut him loose while their first-round draft pick was still ambulatory.
The Titans’ over-matched offensive line gave up a league-high 54 sacks, 38 of them suffered by Mariota, who missed four games due to knee injuries and the offense generated few threats to complement him.
The Titans’ struggles earned them the No. 1 pick for April’s draft, where it is hoped they can find talent to rebuild the porous offensive line, provide a legitimate running threat and, maybe, a gifted receiver or two that Mularkey can work his magic with.
That would really give Mariota something to be “excited” about.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
