After leaving today’s loss to the Texans, Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of his hamstring injury, according to Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com. Sources in the Tennessee lock room expressed “optimism” that Mariota will return to action quickly, as Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com tweets.
Mariota returned to Sunday’s contest following the initial hit that led to injury, and warmed up before the second half as if he planned to re-enter the game. But following discussions with the Titans’ staff, Mariota went to the locker room and didn’t re-appear on Tennessee’s sideline until the fourth quarter, per Wyatt. With the Titans already down 30-14 at halftime, head coach Mike Mularkey decided not to risk further injury to Mariota.
“He wanted to see if he could play,” Mularkey said, referring to Mariota. “He came out, warmed up and I said to him: ‘I’d like to be smart about it. There’s a lot of football still to go. We have 12 games to go, so let’s be smart about it. I’ll know more about the extent of it (later).”
Following today’s 54-17 defeat, the Titans now stand at 2-2, tied with the Jaguars and Texans for first place in the AFC South (pending a result in the Colts’ Sunday night contest). Mariota, for his part, has played well thus far in 2017, as he’d completed 60% of his passes for 696 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception heading into Week 4. He ranks eighth among NFL quarterbacks in adjusted net yards per attempt, and has also added 77 yards and one score on the ground.
Matt Cassel replaced Mariota in today’s loss, and completed nearly as many passes to the Texans as he did to Titans wide receivers. On 10 attempts, Cassel managed only four completions for 21 yards while tossing two interceptions. He’d start for Tennessee against Miami next week if Mariota can’t go, while practice squad quarterback Tyler Ferguson would presumably be promoted to the active roster.