NFL Training Camp Tour: Mariota says he’ll have more say in Titans’ game plans

Marcus Mariota sits down with Pat Kirwan and Mike Keith

A year older and wiser to the ways of NFL defenses, Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota now has a larger voice in the offensive game plans he’ll execute each week.

Unlike his rookie season in 2015, there is much more give and take in the conversations with his coaches.

‘Makes the situation comfortable’

“They ask my opinion for a lot of things and for me that makes it comfortable,” Mariota told Pat Kirwan and Mike Keith at Titans training camp in Nashville. “It makes the situation comfortable and they’ve done a great job since the moment I’ve gotten here in terms of my transition. They’ve helped me through it. (Offensive coordinator Terry) Robiskie has kind of taken over the reins of that, as well as (Quarterbacks coach Jason) Michael, and it’s made my life a lot easier.

“I think what you experience in Year One gives you the knowledge that you need going forward in Year Two and for my career moving forward. It’s given me confidence in what I think I’m good at and what I’m able to do, and kind of showed what maybe I’m lacking in and things that I could work on in the offseason. Going into Year Two, the situation’s a lot more comfortable, you kind of know what to expect, and I feel a lot more comfortable.”

‘Going to see everything and anything’

It also helps that Mariota gets to face the Titans’ defense in each practice. The scheme of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has proven to be a nightmare for many a quarterback through the years.

Seeing it on a regular basis reduces, if not eliminates, the chances of being surprised by what an opponent shows.

“You’re going to see everything and anything,” Mariota said. “Not only myself, but this entire offense appreciates the fact that we get to see that, because any look we see throughout the season, there was a point in time in camp that we saw it with Coach LeBeau.

“So to kind of practice against that kind of defense, day in and day out, makes the situation going into game week a lot more comfortable and we’re fortunate to have that, and it makes this team a lot better.”

NFL Training Camp Tour: Murray: Titans have a ‘really good team’

DeMarco Murray sits down with Pat Kirwan and Mike Keith

DeMarco Murray is ecstatic to be a member of the Tennessee Titans.

‘Extremely blessed’

“Very happy, very excited, I’m extremely blessed,” he told Pat Kirwan and Mike Keith at the Titans’ training camp in Nashville, the final stop on the 2016 SiriusXM NFL Training Camp Tour. “…I think we’ve got a really good team and I’m excited.”

That’s saying plenty, considering the Titans, to whom he was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles in March, were 3-13 last season.

But Murray sees himself as being a good fit in Tennessee’s offensive scheme, which is a dramatic change from the system of which he was a part in 2015 as a member of the Eagles but much closer to the one that helped him lead the NFL in rushing with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014.

‘Accustomed’ to the scheme

“It’s something that I’ve been accustomed to doing my whole career, and I’m excited just running the schemes that we’re running and the blocking schemes and things of that nature,” Murray said. “It’s something that I’ve done in the past and I wouldn’t say it’s second nature, but I’m very accustomed to doing it.

“And I know how the blocks are being blocked, I know what they’re doing with the defensive line and trying to get to the second level.”