Last December , I wrote that Marcus Mariota needs to throw more incomplete passes. At the time, Mariota had thrown just 71 incomplete passes all season , while also taking 35 sacks. That’s nearly a 2:1 ratio of incomplete passes to sacks! Over the rest of the season, he threw 32 incomplete passes and only took 7 sacks, and the Titans went 4-0.

Mariota is a frustrating quarterback to analyze because he seems so afraid of making mistakes. Last year, that manifested itself by taking a sack rather than throwing an incomplete pass. This year, Mariota is taking sacks and not throwing interceptions. Dating back to last season, Mariota has now thrown 191 straight passes without throwing an interception. But during that time, he’s taken 26 sacks, a 12% sack rate.

This season, the Titans have taken a sack on 13.5% of pass plays, the second-worst rate behind the hapless Jets (who have been playing a third string quarterback). Meanwhile, Tennessee is one of just three teams (Seattle, Kansas City) that has yet to throw an interception. Tennessee has picked up a 1st down on just 28.2% of passing plays this season (46 passing first downs, 141 pass attempts, 22 sacks), which ranks 27th so far in 2019. Avoiding interceptions is great, but that should be the product of good quarterback play and not the primary goal.

Along with the Jets, the Titans are the only team this season to punt on over half of their drives. Tennessee is the only team this year without a turnover, while all other teams have at least four. But the objective of an offense is to score, and Tennessee is joined by the Redskins and the three stepsisters of the AFC East in the bottom five of the NFL in percentage of drives that end in a score.

I don’t know if Mariota is ever going to take the leap and become a top quarterback, and the evidence so far suggests he won’t. But I do know that if he is going to take that leap, it’s going to be because he starts leading touchdown drives, and not because he doesn’t make mistakes.