Let me put together a Marcus Mariota “twin spin”. I am very impressed but what he’s done as a passer around the goal line. At the same time, I don’t like what I’ve seen of him running in that area.
Mariota is a superior athlete – one of the top few in the league at his position. But I don’t think he wants to run. I think he wants to learn to do it from the pocket. So I don’t think he’s going to be running for 4 TDs in a season anytime soon.
Thus far in the pros, he’s run the ball only 1 time inside the 5-yard line in each of his first two seasons. One run in 2015, and just one last year (a 5-yard touchdown, at least, at Miami).
Strange but true: over the last two years, Zach Mettenberger has been Tennessee’s top rushing quarterback inside the 5 (3 yards ahead of Mariota).
| QB RUSHING INSIDE THE 5 (2015-16) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | 2Pt |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 20 | 46 | 2.3 | 13 | 1 |
| Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 11 | -1 | -.1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 8 | 20 | 2.5 | 5 | 0 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 7 | 9 | 1.3 | 6 | 0 |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 7 | 6 | .9 | 4 | 1 |
| Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 7 | 4 | .6 | 5 | 0 |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 5 | 4 | .8 | 4 | 0 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 5 | 4 | .8 | 3 | 0 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 4 | 0 | .0 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Smith, K.C. | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 3 | 0 |
| Colin Kaepernick, S.F. | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 1 | 1 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | 2 | 1 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 3 | 6 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Brock Osweiler, Den.-Hou. | 3 | 2 | .7 | 2 | 0 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 3 | 1 | .3 | 2 | 0 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Teddy Bridgewater, Minn. | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Blaine Gabbert, S.F. | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Case Keenum, L.A. | 2 | 1 | .5 | 1 | 0 |
| Scott Tolzien, Ind. | 2 | 1 | .5 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Mettenberger, Tenn. | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jay Cutler, Chi. | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cody Kessler, Clev. | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Philip Rivers, S.D. | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryce Petty, NYJ | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 |
| EJ Manuel, Buff. | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jared Goff, L.A. | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Robert Griffin III, Clev. | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Foles, St.L. | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Trevor Siemian, Den. | 1 | 0 | .0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Schaub, Balt. | 1 | 0 | .0 | 0 | 0 |
At the same time, Mariota is way ahead of schedule as a passer. He’s not perfect, but he’s been really efficient at closing drives with touchdowns. The Titans had the league’s best red zone offense last year, scoring on 72 percent of their possessions. And Mariota has been really good at hitting on the big throws down close.
In his first two years, Mariota has dropped back to pass 54 times when inside the 10. On 29 of those, who was able to successfully get it into the end zone. That’s 54 percent – way better than any other quarterback. Most of the other guys that have been successful in this part of the field are really good quarterbacks. (Bortles as the exception, but Rodgers, Stafford, Roethlisberger, Luck, Carr and Brady are the others that have been successful on 40-42 percent of their throws.)
On the chart below, I’m leaving out sacks. (I thought it would get too cluttered with another column). But Mariota had 1 sack. The notable number there would be Tyrod Taylor, who’s been sacked 6 times.
These are the quarterbacks with at least 40 plays in that part of the field …
| PASSING INSIDE 10 (2015-16) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp | Comp | Att | Int | TD+2pt | Pct |
| Marcus Mariota | 35 | 53 | 0 | 26+3 | 54% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 63 | 107 | 2 | 41+5 | 42% |
| Matthew Stafford | 52 | 78 | 1 | 33+1 | 42% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 45 | 83 | 1 | 24+11 | 42% |
| Blake Bortles | 45 | 82 | 3 | 32+2 | 40% |
| Andrew Luck | 40 | 58 | 0 | 22+3 | 40% |
| Derek Carr | 36 | 74 | 0 | 24+6 | 40% |
| Tom Brady | 45 | 74 | 3 | 30+1 | 40% |
| Philip Rivers | 38 | 71 | 2 | 27+2 | 39% |
| Jameis Winston | 38 | 78 | 0 | 26+4 | 38% |
| Eli Manning | 36 | 68 | 4 | 27 | 38% |
| Carson Palmer | 39 | 85 | 2 | 32+1 | 38% |
| Drew Brees | 59 | 92 | 2 | 35 | 37% |
| Cam Newton | 28 | 54 | 2 | 20+1 | 37% |
| Andy Dalton | 28 | 58 | 3 | 21 | 36% |
| Alex Smith | 29 | 51 | 2 | 14+4 | 35% |
| Matt Ryan | 54 | 93 | 2 | 32+2 | 35% |
| Sam Bradford | 31 | 54 | 2 | 19 | 34% |
| Joe Flacco | 33 | 60 | 2 | 16+5 | 34% |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 28 | 61 | 2 | 19 | 31% |
| Russell Wilson | 22 | 58 | 0 | 18+1 | 31% |
| Brock Osweiler | 22 | 45 | 1 | 14 | 30% |
| Tyrod Taylor | 20 | 40 | 1 | 13+1 | 30% |
| Ryan Tannehill | 31 | 65 | 2 | 18+2 | 30% |
| Kirk Cousins | 41 | 85 | 2 | 24+2 | 30% |
| Jay Cutler | 21 | 46 | 2 | 10+1 | 22% |
—Ian Allan