Falcons Marcus Mariota destroys Jets secondary in impressive preseason start

Marcus Mariota was the Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback for the first three drives against the New York Jets in their second preseason game of the year.  The game couldn’t have gone much better for Mariota with the quarterback completing 6/10 passes for 132-yards and a touchdown. In three drives Mariota had as many big plays and led the Atlanta offense on two scoring drives.

Using his athleticism to move around the pocket Mariota sliced the Jets secondary up with surprising speed and precision making lightning-fast decisions in the pocket.

This is building on Mariota’s Falcons debut last week against the Lions where the veteran quarterback led an impressive touchdown drive in his only series. While missing the final two passes of the night hurt his final line there is no denying Mariota was electric and looked every bit the part of a starting quarterback.

It is only fair to point out, however, that this game was against a Jets defense that rested a lot of key players and is focused on making it to the season healthy. However, it was still a very impressive effort for a player who could be facing his last chance at a starting quarterback job in this league.

Mariota’s decision-making and accuracy were both the biggest standouts of his second preseason performance. While his ability to make plays with his legs has been well covered a part of what ended his time with the Titans was an inability to make the right decision quickly enough getting himself into trouble.

Perhaps Atlanta has found a quarterback in Marcus Mariota who has grown from his time with the Raiders after being benched with the Titans. He certainly looked to be a better version of himself albeit in meaningless preseason action against the Jets. But it is certainly an exciting sign for the Falcons that perhaps they have found not only a bridge quarterback in Mariota but one that is going to surprise a lot of pundits this season in Atlanta.