The Titans were able to rally late for a victory over the Lions in Week Two and they had a chance to do the same in Week Three against the Raiders, but their effort fell short in what wound up as a 17-10 Oakland victory.
They may not have been trying to play from behind if not for three turnovers by quarterback Marcus Mariota. Mariota fumbled once and threw two interceptions over the course of the game, leaving him with six giveaways over the course of the young season. The fumble came on a play that saw Mariota trying to run for a first down on third-and-13 and there was another that the Titans recovered when he tried a late pitch to Harry Douglas, which led Mariota to say that he needs to scale things back in certain situations.
“That’s just me being a competitor and that’s why I got to continue to learn. I am trying to do too much, fight for a first down rather than just moving on and taking care of the football,” Mariota said, via the Tennessean. “Yeah, and you know that’s things that I have worked on, it’s part of the game, but I got to find ways to be better. I can’t put our defense in situations like that. You know, I will get better.”
Even with the turnovers, the Titans may have tied the game if not for a pair of penalties on their final drive. Tackle Taylor Lewan was flagged for unnecessary roughness on a Tajae Sharpe catch that would have given them a first down on the 3-yard-line and Andre Johnson was called for offensive pass interference on a touchdown catch a few plays later.
There’s work to be done in several places, in other words, and Mariota realizing where he needs to improve should help the effort to move the team in the right direction.