Atlanta Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota had a near-perfect game last week in a 28-14 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Mariota was and incredibly-efficient 13 of 14 passing for 129 yards and two touchdowns, and he added 50 yards and a touchdown on the ground while executing option-read running plays that won him a Heisman Trophy at Oregon.
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Mariota has slowly been making his way up NFL.com’s QB Index, and he moved up again this week to his highest mark yet at No. 19. Mariota is up three spots over last week, and has slowly climbed out of his initial No. 29 from Week 1.
NFL.com’s Marc Sessler had some fun with the commentary on each quarterback this week. He wrote, or at least someone did, a haiku for every play. For Mariota, Sessler had this to say:
I flung a TD
To Kyle Pitts. Time to chill
Fantasy nimrods
Marc Sessler, NFL.com
Do you get the feeling that’s how Falcons head coach Arthur Smith would like to refer to some of the people asking him questions?
Mariota has been good virtually the entire season for the Falcons, hence his climb up the index. His play was plagued with a couple of big mistakes early on, but he was flawless against the 49ers.
He has quieted the calls for rookie Desmond Ridder (at least most of them) for now, and he deserves to keep starting.
Mariota has found a groove in this offense and looks more comfortable every week. The Falcons will need him to keep playing at a high level as they suddenly find themselves playoff contenders.
The Falcons travel to Cincinnati this week to take on the Bengals who also find themselves 3-3 on the season. Atlanta is a 6.5-point underdog on the road according to MyBookie.
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