After Jayden Daniels exited Sunday's game against Carolina after Washington's first offensive drive, veteran deputy Marcus Mariota dismissed the hapless Panthers side by throwing for 205 yards on 18-for-23 passing with two touchdowns, leading six scoring drives out of seven total possessions, not counting a final kneel-down drive to end the 40-7 shellacking.
In watching the game live, Kevin Sheehan thought Mariota "played at a very high level," and watched the All-22 of the game to see if that was true. "It was actually better than I thought it was," he said.
After missing on his first three attempts, "Mariota hit on 15 of his next 16 and, at one point, he completed 11 passes in a row. They scored on six straight drives with Mariota, that's pretty damn impressive regardless of the opponent, regardless of missing three times in the red zone."
There is a caveat to all of this: Carolina is bad defensively. "Really bad," Sheehan said for emphasis. After seven games, Carolina now ranks 31st out of 32 in defensive DVOA (Defense-adjusted value over average). And for comparison's sake, Washington's poor defense ranks 23rd.
With that being said, Mariota didn't do anything to lose the game, to let a bad team hang around. He led the offense to 30 points.
"The caveats in place, stand-alone game, just looking at Sunday, not talking about his career, not talking about what he might be able to be, just what was he on Sunday: He was excellent, he was really good," Sheehan said of Mariota.
Sheehan admits he didn't look great early on the first two possessions, but this might not have been his fault, looking at a zone-read that went for three but included a missed block and a sack that was on Cornelius Lucas before a punt after a 3rd-and-15. And on that throw on third down, Mariota "missed" badly, Sheehan.
It isn't until the third drive – even after a touchdown on the second drive – when Mariota really starts getting going, Sheehan said.
"On that drvie at the end of the first half," Sheehan said pointing out when the backup started to heat up. "He goes 5-for-6 for 75 yards, touchdown."
Some of the throws were from the pocket and some were on the move off-schedule, "he's very good athletically, he's very good with feel and creating time and then throwing the football," he said.
There are limitations – hence why he is a backup quarterback after being a high draft pick out of college. But on Sunday, "he was an absolute A for the game."
Listen to the complete breakdown from Sheehan on the audio player above!