Thursday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers will not go down as a career highlight for Marcus Mariota. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback struggled mightily against Carolina with multiple questionable decisions.
Those poor decisions were highlighted by a horrible interception in the second quarter to Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn in an overall unsteady half of football for Mariota.
Seatbelt
Seatbelt
Seatbelt pic.twitter.com/NciztlJJoI— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 11, 2022
Mariota clearly should have thrown the ball away on this play, and Richard Sherman gave a brutally honest assessment of Mariota’s carelessness during Amazon’s half-time show.
“Mariota is making it too easy for them,” said Sherman. “He is just throwing it up for grabs. At this point, you’ve gotta bring somebody else in. He’s making rookie mistakes, and as a veteran, you can’t have it. You have a good game plan… You run the ball, you don’t turn the ball over. This is carelessness.”
Richard Sherman on Falcons QB Marcus Mariota:
"At this point, you've gotta bring somebody else in. He's making rookie mistakes, and as a veteran, you can't have it. You have a good gameplan… you run the ball… you don't turn the ball over. This is carelessness." 🏈 #TNF pic.twitter.com/qyQxRNyXL7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 11, 2022
You can see in Sherman’s video that there were a number of other throws by Mariota that certainly could have easily been intercepted by the Panthers.
Atlanta currently sits at 4-5 on the season and could take the division lead in the NFC South if Mariota and company are able to win on Thursday.
The Falcons’ backup quarterback is former Cincinnati Bearcats star Desmond Ridder, who Atlanta selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
It seems like the Falcons are content with Marcus Mariota at this point. But it will be interesting to see if they decide to go with Ridder at some point this season if Mariota’s wild decision-making continues later on this season.
[Photo Credit: Amazon Prime, Carolina Panthers]
