He’s not perfect, however. Mariota doesn’t have great anticipation on his throws, and he’s not smooth if his primary receiver is covered. Against the Spartans, he missed a wide-open receiver, Keanon Lowe, in the flat for a touchdown with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter because he didn’t anticipate how the coverage would react to the routes.
And for all his accuracy, he hasn’t yet been asked to throw the top-level NFL routes—the skinny post (between two closing defenders in the middle of the field) and the dig, in which a receiver runs 15 to 20 yards down the field and cuts in front of a hard-charging cornerback. The Ducks don’t even practice those routes in warmups because they’re so foreign to the scheme. Mariota will also have to learn to “throw receivers open” against tight coverage, which is to say he’ll have to put the ball in places that only the receivers can get to—the tight back-shoulder throw being one example. That’s a must in the NFL, but it can be learned. So if Mariota is drafted by, say, the Rams, Raiders, Texans, Titans or Cowboys, which use more of a pro-style system, he’s going to need some retraining.
like what's the dude supposed to do? He also throws tight passes when needed
