4 Things the Atlanta Falcons learned about Marcus Mariota in week two

3. Mariota’s decision-making was far too slow on Sunday

One play in particular perfectly illustrated Mariota’s day with the team needing a touchdown and having been struggling on offense Mariota took the snap and rolled to his left. Kyle Pitts finished his route and was standing alone in the end zone ready for a touchdown, Mariota stared at Pitts until the defense recovered and forced an inaccurate throw that wasn’t close to a touchdown.

Mariota for the second consecutive week struggled in clutch time as a passer. Kyle Pitts wasn’t the only open receiver that Mariota stared down or threw a wild pass that didn’t give him a chance to make a play.

Mariota cannot afford to be staring down his receivers considering his limited arm strength.  He has to use his legs to get outside the pocket and create space both for himself and his receivers. That should be Mariota’s lasting takeaway from this game, the turnovers are something he knows how to fix but watching film and seeing how often Mariota made slow decisions while staring at his receivers is going to be something stressed to the veteran quarterback. That is a mistake a veteran shouldn’t be making at this point in his career.