After acquiring Ryan Tannehill from the Dolphins in March of 2019, reasonable people linked with the Titans organization fully expected Tannehill to be the backup.
Well unless you’re some member of the national media that has no clue about the situation.
National media hasn’t been too kind to the Tennessee Titans in recent year. I mean how can you blame them? They’re made the playoffs only one time in this entire decade and have had winnings records in 4 seasons since 2010.
That’s not good at all.
But you would expect the national media to at least know the basics about the organization right?
Wrong.
During camp, there’s been a lot of unnecessary speculation on who will be starting at QB for the Tennessee Titans come week 1.
Notice how I said unnecessary, because that exactly what this speculation is. Unnecessary and flat out lazy.
Marcus Mariota will be the starting QB for the Tennessee Titans come week 1. Mike Vrabel even confirmed this back during the 2019 owners meetings.
“Obviously if Marcus is healthy, and he’s available, he’s our starter,” Vrabel said in March during the Owners Meetings. “Obviously if Marcus is healthy, and he’s available, he’s our starter. We just felt like, to be able to strengthen the position, to have a chance to add a player like Ryan, who could help us if Marcus isn’t available, then we were excited to do so.”
There you have it, Mike Vrabel confirmed that Marcus Mariota will be the starter.
If you need anymore confirmation, Titans GM Jon Robinson echoed the same thing.
“I talked to Ryan when we kind of started the process and he understands that he’s coming in as the backup quarterback,” Robinson said. “I’ve talked to Marcus and told Marcus he is our starting quarterback.”
With both head coach and general manager saying the same statement, this whole mess should be cleaned up and done with right?
Wrong again.
There has still been continued speculation that Marcus Mariota could be riding the pine in week 1. Not because of injury, but simply due to the staff feeling like Tannehill is better.
A lot of this came after Ryan Tannehill played pretty well in the Titans’ week 1 pre season game against the Eagles.
Marcus Mariota only saw 1 series.
Ryan Tannehill saw plenty action well into the end of the first half.
With that, national media ran with the “Tannehill should be the starter” rubbish. Completely ignoring that Marcus Mariota only played 1 series. While Tannhill tore up an Eagles defense full of roster hopefuls.
This started a a short trend with national media. A trend that took information and twisted it into conclusions that aren’t even close to true.
Example 1.
https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/1159853815300055040?s=20
It’s fine to think that Tannehill is the better player.
But it isn’t fine to tweet about this the morning after the game, then lie and say it has nothing to do with the game the previous night.
Come on man.
Example 2.
Dianna Russini of ESPN reported that Tannehill could be the starter come week 1. Obviously ignoring the confirmation from Mike Vrabel that Mariota is and will be the starter until further notice.
WATCH/LISTEN: I cut out and edited the report from Dianna Russini for easier consumption by everyone.
I'd pay closer attention to what she says than some of the other guys in this clip.
Curious, does this change your POV about Marcus's standing with the staff?
Let us know!👇 pic.twitter.com/BTMFaIWllI
— Football & Other F Words (@FWordsPod) August 13, 2019
Yes, the Titans aren’t married to Mariota. If they were, they would’ve given him an extension by now. But to say that this starting job could be Tannehill’s by week 1 is a complete lie.
Example 3.
I 100% could see Tannehill starting week 1. If he has another really strong game, and MM doesn’t-Tann will start week 3 pre season game.
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) August 14, 2019
This is the worst one of them all.
Basing this sort of decision on both of their performances in the preseason is completely unreasonable. Especially when both are in different situations due to their different roles on the team.
This type of lazy reporting just means you’re looking for a story when there isn’t one. Or in other words, you’re trying too hard.
No sort of disrespect to these guys though, they’ve worked hard to get where they’re at and I’m sure they’re not trying to start any type of controversy.
But when you put out irresponsible things like this out on a situation and team you’ve probably never even examined thoroughly, then you’re bound to get burned by people who know the situation.
At least put some sort of reasoning behind this, not some sort of bland reporting.
You think the Titans would throw $20.0M(Mariota’s contract) away like that without fully seeing what they have in him?
Don’t be lazy with this.
Once again, Marcus Mariota will be the starting QB for the Tennessee Titans unless he’s hurt or plays extremely poor football.
Unless that happens, Ryan Tannehill will be the backup.
Like many local media have said from the start.
Flip the page to hear further reassurance that Marcus is the starting QB.
