The Tennessee Titans fan base drives me crazy sometimes. On any given day, there’s absolutely no telling what you’ll see on Titans Facebook or Titans Twitter. Earlier this year, I wrote about Titans Facebook trying to figure out whether or not Corey Davis was in a gang. Yeah….that happened. But, one of the latest hot takes is that Marcus Mariota “isn’t tough” because he doesn’t play through injuries like Steve McNair did back in the day. Folks, I just can’t even with this one.
If McNair played in today’s NFL – he’d be benched, too.
First of all, we need to talk about the evolution of player safety since the days of McNair and Eddie George. Players are way more cognizant of the potential dangers of football now than they were back then.
Second of all, and more importantly, coaches and the league itself are much more cognizant of that fact. While we don’t know whether Mariota wants to go out there and play or not, it probably doesn’t matter. Coaches are showing a stronger tendency to pull players for the sake of their own health these days. The league has implemented (albeit confusing as shit) rules to protect player safety.
The choice is literally out of Mariota’s hands. Yet, people are trashing him for his lack of what you call “toughness?” Give me a break.
Another point – specifically talking about the injury he’s currently dealing with. IT’S NOT A FUCKING PAIN ISSUE! It has nothing to do with toughness. He can’t feel his hand. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some of these people belching their opinions out on social media probably don’t understand that you throw a football better when you can actually feel your hand.
It’s not too different from calling a blind man soft for not playing football because he can’t see. Ridiculous.
This issue has nothing to do with toughness!
His development has been frustrating, for sure. At one point, we thought Mariota was going to transcend to an elite-level NFL quarterback. It hasn’t happened yet, but he’s still a youngun’ guys. There’s still plenty to be encouraged about, and there’s plenty of reason to think he can still be that elite quarterback.
Mariota is set to start on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. You can call him injury-prone or snake-bit if you want to. But, there is absolutely no basis to say that he isn’t tough. Period.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Subscribe to our Patreon. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube.
