Marcus Mariota had plenty of knocks coming out of college. He was a system guy. His stats were inflated by Oregon’s run-and-gun offense. He couldn’t throw deep. His ceiling wasn’t as high as Jameis Winston’s.

Less that two years on and those perceptions are beginning to shift, but not enough. There’s still an air of under-appreciation surrounding Mariota, and it’s time that changed, because he may well be the best young quarterback the NFL right now.

Mariota went 18-for-22 for 270 yards and two touchdowns on Thursday en-route to the Titans’ 36-22 win over the Jags. It was his seventh win in 20 career games; not hugely impressive on that front, but judging a young quarterback’s ability by his win-loss record isn’t really very useful. Not only did he walk into a franchise coming off a two-win season, but outside of DeMarco Murray, redeeming features on this team are few-and-far between.

Mariota has made this team better anyway, but it shines through most in his underlying stats.

Mariota has thrown 33 career touchdown passes so far — more than Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer, Jameis Winston, Tom Brady, Andy Dalton, Matt Ryan, Andrew Luck, Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler, Eli Manning and Cam Newton during their first 20 games. He’s also only thrown 16 interceptions, which is less than everyone on that list but Big Ben, Ryan and Wilson (all three threw 13). His 92.9 passer rating through the 20 games surpasses all those but Wilson and Roethlisberger and is more than 10 points higher than Winston’s.

Does this mean Mariota is going to be better than some or all of these players? Of course not. But it’s more than enough for us to take seriously.

Yet the general consensus among fans still tends towards Winston. It’s true that he’s more boisterous and has a better arm, but as we’ve seen this season, his game remains sloppy in some key areas. He’s prone to turnovers and at times shows a stunning lack of awareness.

These are issues young quarterbacks can and have worked through before, but these are issues nevertheless. Sports fans have an inherent bias towards the mythical “potential upside” when they look at young players because it’s exciting, but as any scorned head coach will admit, you can lose your house on potential. Like it or not, it’s something we’re obligated to consider with Winston.

Mariota’s fundamentals are strong, so he tends to lean on them a lot. That’s perfectly fine — indeed, that’s what they’re there for — but lots of fundamentally sound, grind-it-out quarterback performances aren’t always the best way to draw widespread praise. Just ask Alex Smith.

But it works, and at 22, there’s still plenty of time for Mariota to work on his deep passing and other areas he needs to improve. Who knows, maybe he’ll even get handed another weapon that’ll make it easier for him — heaven forbid!

Either way, Titans fans should be hugely encouraged by their young, smart, duel-threat quarterback, and it’s time for the NFL to take better notice, too.