Is Marcus Mariota a good QB or is he a Tim Tebow?

Damn. Autocorrect kills me sometimes.

"TEBOW was a great...."

Buuuumpiry bump bump.

Now that he's a Heisman winner, somebody answer this.

Mariota is a way way better passer than Tebow was. Stronger and more accurate arm. Tebow was far more dependent on his running ability. Mariota can run (and has dynamite acceleration once he decides to take off), but doesn't need to run to be effective. Dak Prescott is the better (and more obvious, considering both are/were coached by Dan Mullen) comparison to Tebow.

Tebow had the ability to be a great QB. The thing is, like any good QB in the NFL, he needed the right coach. He had that in Urban Meyer (or the QB coach) in college, but the teams he was with (Jets & Broncos) were greatly lacking in coaching ability.

Mariota is a great fit with the Oregon QB coach. Time will tell if he fits with some NFL QB coach.

jameis winston is jamarcus russell v2

he is a good college quarterback.

he is less durable than tim tebow.

every defensive player in the nfl is as good as the BEST player mariotta has faced in college.

since 1986 only one heisman trophy winning qb has won a playoff game . . .

and that would be tim tebow.

if mariotta tries to run in the nfl, he will have an effective career shorter than rg 3.

he will be a high second round pick.

obtw the best college shotgun qb in college history never played a snap in the nfl,

and that would be charlie ward, 10 years in the nba.

Tebow (of Denver) won a game? I though the WR won the game.

The WR caught the ball deep in Denver territory: the defensive secondary was between the receiver and end zone, with 70 yards to go. The WR was hit but did not go down and sprinted to the end zone for the victory.

egun wrote:he is less durable than tim tebow.

Mariota has not missed a start in college and has played through a couple of minor injuries.

egun wrote:

he is a good college quarterback.

he is less durable than tim tebow.

every defensive player in the nfl is as good as the BEST player mariotta has faced in college.

since 1986 only one heisman trophy winning qb has won a playoff game . . .

and that would be tim tebow.

if mariotta tries to run in the nfl, he will have an effective career shorter than rg 3.

he will be a high second round pick.

obtw the best college shotgun qb in college history never played a snap in the nfl,

and that would be charlie ward, 10 years in the nba.

Good facts!

Or the next Johnny Football?

I saw part of this kid's Heisman acceptance speech, and it was pure gibberish, unintelligible. Guessing this is typical for Oregon's student athletes?

Definitely better than Tebow. He is a better thrower. Faster. Taller. But above all, he is smart. MM still doesn't get enough credit for that. His decision making was superb. Especially given his ability to run. Most QBs who have so many tools get overwhelmed with the options. MM made all the right decisions.

Looking at in another way. Mariota made all the players around him look better than they were. The Duck O-line was bad early in the year after they had a rash of injuries. But even when the O-line got better later in the year it still wasn't that great. Look at Duck games and you see Mariota under a pressure a lot. But he deals with it and makes it look easy. Conversely it was the rest of the Florida team that made Tebow look better than he was.

egun wrote:

he will be a high second round pick.

Uh, what?

Has anyone noticed that the guys who run the exotic spread/pistol/no-huddle offenses, putting up huge numbers in college, do bupkis in the pros?

Good young NFL QBs.

Luck. Stanford under Harbaugh was about as far as you could get from Oregon's offense

Wilson. Wisco, pretty traditional

Meanwhile guys like RG3, Kapernick, Johnny Football, et al. make a big splash when they come out and maybe even do well for a while, but NFL defenses aren't limited to 20 hours of practice per week and won't be fooled for long by esoteric schemes.

QB's need a long pedigree of reading defenses and finding an open guy, without having to rely on gadgetry to get their receivers open.

CoachB wrote:

Has anyone noticed that the guys who run the exotic spread/pistol/no-huddle offenses, putting up huge numbers in college, do bupkis in the pros?

Good young NFL QBs.

Luck. Stanford under Harbaugh was about as far as you could get from Oregon's offense

Wilson. Wisco, pretty traditional

Meanwhile guys like RG3, Kapernick, Johnny Football, et al. make a big splash when they come out and maybe even do well for a while, but NFL defenses aren't limited to 20 hours of practice per week and won't be fooled for long by esoteric schemes.

QB's need a long pedigree of reading defenses and finding an open guy, without having to rely on gadgetry to get their receivers open.

I think this is how we'll find out how good Mariota really is. A lot of the praise he gets is not just his athleticism, which is incredible, but his intelligence on the field. I think he deserves a season or two in the pros to figure it out as it IS a different game than college, but I have a feeling he will shine through. Let's not forget the emotional aspect of being a QB. Kaepernick is very emotional and I think it gets the best of him. Mariota seems much more even keeled and I think that will help him as a pro.

Time will tell.

egun wrote:

he is a good college quarterback.

he is less durable than tim tebow.

every defensive player in the nfl is as good as the BEST player mariotta has faced in college.

since 1986 only one heisman trophy winning qb has won a playoff game . . .

and that would be tim tebow.

if mariotta tries to run in the nfl, he will have an effective career shorter than rg 3.

he will be a high second round pick.

obtw the best college shotgun qb in college history never played a snap in the nfl,

and that would be charlie ward, 10 years in the nba.

Are you completel full of shit or just 50%?

You do know MM is going to be a top 5 pick if he comes out right? BTW just listened to him on the DP Show and he is still considering another year at Oregon to develop and earn his degree.

Foosball is da DEVIL wrote:

Renowned was a great college football player. A fantastic athlete. A leader. A winner. Not a good quarterback.

Is Mariota the same kind of thing? Or is he actually a good qb? I don't know enough about the game to truly be able to evaluate his skills. But Oregon is damn fun to watch play.

I think Mariota has better NFL tangibles than Tebow, who I said at the height of the Tebow mania would not be an NFL starter. Some college athletes look great because they benefit from a college system that suits their skill, which is the case for Mariota and Tebow. I think Tebow was a better college quarterback than Mariota, but I think Mariota will be a better NFL quarterback. I think Mariota can be a starter with the right team, but I don't think he will be an NFL star. Being a good passer and having 4.5 speed can make you a great college quarterback, but unless you are Michael Vick, quick thinking and passing accuracy is what's required to be employed at the NFL level. Mariota did a lot of amazing things against athletes, 90% of whom could never make an NFL team, NFL defensive players so much faster, bigger and stronger that quick thinking and passing accuracy is the only way to overcome that.

I watched Mariota pill up a lot of stats throwing to open receivers and receivers getting a lot RAC yards; I have not been impressed with his ability to fit the ball into tight spaces. Andrew Luck was the type of college quarterback who is a good example of talent that translated well to the next level. With all of that said, Mariota is a great 'college' quarterback, who will be good, somewhere around the Cam Newton level at best in the NFL. - Just keeping it real.

FitzyXC wrote:

Mariota is a way way better passer than Tebow was. Stronger and more accurate arm. Tebow was far more dependent on his running ability. Mariota can run (and has dynamite acceleration once he decides to take off), but doesn't need to run to be effective. Dak Prescott is the better (and more obvious, considering both are/were coached by Dan Mullen) comparison to Tebow.

MM is more comfortable in the pocket / throwing from the pocket than Kaepernick was in college or the NFL, and we can see how the NFL now has CK7 figured out.

With college QB's though, you never know, they can get screwed by being drafted by a team (Carr got killed by the Texans No Oline, his brother is having a hard time on the Raiders etc.)

You won't know about Mariota as a pro until you see who he's drafted by, what kind of OL they have, and how quickly he picks up on the speed of the pro game.

I can guarantee you this, he will be hyped like heck as the #1pick and "a sure thing prototype NFL QB" by the ESPN talking heads and others.

He's not just a high character guy too, he a dream character guy, a PR dream, and even more so as he matures vis a vis public speaking which he hates.

In my dreams he pulls a shocker and comes back for a 4th year.

Just think, at one point both Manziel and Mariota were committed to the Ducks. Can you imagine the competition to be starter if that had happened?

A Duck wrote:MM is more comfortable in the pocket / throwing from the pocket than Kaepernick was in college or the NFL, and we can see how the NFL now has CK7 figured out.

Kaep was in a run heavy read option offense in college (he was a 3 time 1000 yard rusher) and was a good but not great passer (career passer rating was 142.5, Mariota's is 172.6). He had a good arm but had very little touch on the ball. I was actually surprised he was drafted as high as he was (probably based off of measurables and arm strength). He was able to play well early (see: the game he torched Green Bay) with that kind of system, but now that defenses have figured it out he is struggling.

I think Mariota will be flexible enough to thrive in most offenses at the NFL level, IF (big if) he is put in at least a decent situation coaching and surrounding talent-wise. The offense he has run in college has allowed him to be more than just an option/scrambling QB.