4 Week 2 Storylines to Watch: Will the Packers Get Their Revenge?

Can Marcus Mariota Repeat?

Last week, going against his from-now-until-forever comparison benchmark in Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota took the NFL by storm by throwing four touchdown passes in his debut game. All of them were in the first half, and his team was up by so much at the end of the third quarter that he didn't even play in the fourth quarter.

In fact, in terms of NEP, Mariota was 75% more efficient than the second most-efficient quarterback of Week 1 in Tyrod Taylor, rocking a 1.10 Passing NEP per drop back compared to Taylor's 0.63. That's outrageous, Jack.

It was an electrifying debut, but the conditions for a good game were ripe for Mariota in that he was facing the Bucs defense, which ranked 31st in terms of Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per pass last season. Now, the Titans themselves ranked 30th by this same metric in 2014, so Winston might have some 'splaining to do.

But conditions for another bust-loose game won't be as ripe for Mariota this week, as he goes up against the Cleveland Browns, who, despite organization failures abound, managed to sport the sixth highest ranked Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per pass in 2014. With star cornerback Joe Haden likely to be giving Kendall Wright fits all day, Mariota will likely have to rely more on the other weapons in the Titans passing game.

One of his weapons, tight end Delanie Walker, is already highly questionable for game day with a sprained ligament in his wrist, so this will put the Titans passing attack even more behind the 8-ball.

If Mariota puts up a perfect passer rating and throws for four scores again I'll seriously start to question what alternate universe I'm living in. But if he puts up another highly efficient, mistake-free game against a much more stout passing defense in the Browns, things will be looking much brighter in Nashville than they have for quite some time.