Titans' Delanie Walker on Marcus Mariota: 'Sometimes you've got to overcome coaching'

With the Titans on a three-game losing streak and their playoff hopes at stake in the regular-season finale, veteran linebackers Brian Orakpo and Wesley Woodyard last week pulled quarterback Marcus Mariota aside for a few words.

“That was a private conversation, and honestly it shouldn’t have even got out," Woodyard said, declining to elaborate. "It was just between us.”

The gist?

Do it yourself, if need be.

Mariota tossed the Titans’ stagnant offense a life preserver with his legs on Sunday, rushing for a team-high 60 yards on a career-high 10 carries to help secure a 15-10 victory against the Jaguars, a second consecutive winning season and the Titans’ first playoff berth in nearly a decade.

Mariota rushed for four first downs in the fourth quarter, including a 13-yard highlight-reel scramble that included juking defensive end Calais Campbell, stiff-arming safety Barry Church and sliding in bounds to keep the clock running to the two-minute warning.

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The Titans (9-7) will need Mariota to continue to run the ball to have a chance to upset the heavily-favored AFC West champion Chiefs (10-6) in a wild-card playoff game Saturday (3:35 p.m. CT, ABC, ESPN) in Kansas City.

“Sometimes you’ve got to play backyard football,” veteran tight end Delanie Walker said. “Sometimes you’ve got to overcome coaching. And I think that’s what makes some players great, when they know how to do that.”

What does that mean?

“Sometimes coaching is like, they draw it on the paper, you run a straight line and you break out,” Walker said. “Sometimes you’ve got to overcome coaching. That defender is never going to let you run a straight line, so figure out how to make that line straight without running it straight, you know what I’m saying? That’s overcoming coaching. If Coach tells you it’s a nine-technique, but then in the game you’ve got a six-technique, OK, figure it out and block it. That’s what you’ve got to do.

“Marcus, basically, a play was broken. He made a play on his own. He didn’t find nobody else, so he took off running, and that’s basically what he did.”

Walker was describing the difference between preparation and execution, which can be lost on young players.

“You can go into practice with the plays, what the coaches want, a perfect play,” Walker said. “It ain’t going to always look like that. You’ve got to overcome coaching.”

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Mariota has struggled this season, passing for a career-low 13 touchdowns and career-high 15 interceptions – the third-most in the NFL.

The Titans have converted just 35.1 percent of their third downs, which ranks 25th in the NFL and by far the lowest of any team in the postseason. They finished 3-for-16 (19 percent) on third downs Sunday.

“We're at that point right now when every man needs to do whatever he can, whatever it takes, to make this thing go,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. “It was good to see what (Mariota) did the other night. Obviously, it helped us win the football game. I think it helped him gain a little confidence too that he can do more.”

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Mularkey praised the veteran leadership exhibited in the locker room by Orakpo and Woodyard, whose advice helped Mariota play his best game.

Mariota said he was glad, as well.

“For them to bring me aside and talk about just playing my game, it meant a lot to me,” Mariota said. “I just really appreciate them taking the time.”

Reach Jason Wolf at jwolf@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @JasonWolf and on Instagram and Snapchat at TitansBeat.

WILD-CARD PLAYOFFS

TITANS (9-7) at CHIEFS (10-6)

When: 3:35 p.m. CT Saturday

TV/radio: ESPN, ABC / 104.5-FM