The Tennessee Titans welcomed former long-time head coach Jeff Fisher and the St. Louis Rams to Nissan Stadium on Sunday night. While Fisher would receive a standing ovation from fans prior to the game, it was Marcus Mariota and the Titans who stole the show earning a 27-14 victory.
After a couple of shaky series' that saw Mariota turn the ball over in his first two possessions against Atlanta, the rookie's home debut got off to a much better start.
He completed the first play of the game for a 16-yard pass to Kendall Wright and later connected on a 35-yard gain off a play-action pass in which Mariota scrambled out of the pocket to the right sideline and threw a perfectly placed ball to tight end Craig Stevens downfield.
After the completion to Stevens, he nearly had his first career touchdown pass, but ultimately had to settle for a field goal after a perfectly placed ball bounced off Dexter McCluster's chest on third and goal in the end zone. Mariota's night wasn't perfect, however, as he nearly threw an interception on a third down play that bounced off the hands of a Rams defender and ultimately ended the quarterbacks night.
Other than that, Mariota remained poised in the pocket, made good decisions with the football and consistently led the offense downfield. Mariota ended the night 5-8 passing for 59 yards and an 84.9 passer rating.
The Titans quick start was largely due to a solid effort from the offensive line against one of the best defensive fronts in the league. During practice last week, Tennessee experimented with moving tackle Byron Bell to left guard, while giving rookie lineman Jeremiah Poutasi the majority of the first team reps at right tackle.
The moves seemed to pay off so far. The improved offensive line play gave Mariota time to work through his progressions in the pocket while making accurate throws down field. They also showed improvement in the run game, opening up running lanes for running back Bishop Sankey who showed good vision and explosiveness while breaking a pair of 18 and 19-yard runs in the first quarter.
Nick Foles and the Rams offense weren't able to get much going against the Titans on Sunday. They came out with a running mentality, attempting to get Tre Mason involved in the run game but the Titans first team defense did a good job winning at the line of scrimmage and stopping the run.
On their first possession Foles tried to hit Kenny Britt on a slant route on first down but was intercepted by Perrish Cox who took it to the house for a touchdown to give the Titans an early 7-0 lead. Foles finished the night 3-7 passing for 18 yards and an interception.
St. Louis struggled to get on the scoreboard as they found themselves trailing 20-0 at the half. It wasn't until backup quarterback Case Keenum delivered an 80-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to Chris Givens who blew past the Titans' secondary and underneath a beautifully thrown ball to narrow the lead to thirteen. The score remained at 20-7 until late in the fourth quarter. With under three minutes remaining in the game, both teams wound up exchanging 50-plus yard touchdown passes for a final score of 27-14 in favor of the Titans.