Marcus Mariota Was Introduced To The NFL With This Brutal Hit

Marcus Mariota had about as good of a debut as you can hope for a rookie quarterback last week against Tampa Bay. The former Heisman Trophy winner went 13-for-16 with 209 yards and four touchdowns through the air against the porous Buccaneers defense en route to a 42-14 win.

For his next act, Mariota gets to lead the Titans against the Cleveland Browns. He’s done an alright job against the Browns’ defense, which is a much better unit than the one that has been thrown together in Tampa Bay, but Cleveland gave him a really physical welcome in the form of a sack which led to Mariota fumbling.

Mariota took a third down snap, rolled to his left, couldn’t find anyone open, and tried to run back to the right. While trying to escape, he lost one of his shoes and got absolutely lit up by John Hughes, who hit Mariota’s upper body, and Paul Kruger, who went low on the former Oregon star. Mariota fumbled and lost his helmet because of the hit, and the ball was recovered by Cleveland.

Fortunately, Mariota didn’t need to come out of the game due to an injury or anything, which is good, because that hit looked like it hurt.

(via For The Win)