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Safety Duron Harmon and his buddies on the New England defense know they have to deal with Marcus Mariota’s ”unique skill” set when the Tennessee Titans visit the Patriots for Saturday night’s AFC divisional playoff game.
”He actually knows when to run and when to pass the ball when scrambling Youth Chad Thomas Jersey ,” Harmon said Wednesday.
”It’s a very unique skill because a lot of guys once they get scrambling, they’re not even looking downfield anymore, they’re just looking to run. But he always has his eyes downfield – always knows when to run, when to throw the pass. I would say his touch on the ball, too, that gets people open when he’s scrambling.”
The Patriots have had their troubles with mobile quarterbacks this season – and there have even been not-so-mobile quarterbacks that have picked up yards on the ground against the defending champions.
Cam Newton and the Panthers beat them.
So did Kansas City’s Alex Smith, though Smith didn’t hurt them with his legs.
They beat rookie Deshaun Watson and the Texans, but Houston scored 33 points and Watson gained 41 yards on the ground.
The Patriots beat Tyrod Taylor and the Buffalo Bills twice and defeated Jameis Winston and Tampa Bay.
Mariota, who had an 87-yard touchdown run in 2015, his rookie season, ran for 60 yards on 10 carries in the regular-season finale. He picked up 46 yards on eight attempts in the playoff win over the Chiefs last Saturday.
Mariota had two touchdown passes in the wild-card game, one actually to himself as he caught a pass batted down by Darrelle Revis and took it into the end zone.
He finished off the comeback with a 22-yard TD pass to Eric Decker, but the pass/catch touchdown was enough to make Harmon think.
”It looked like it was meant for them to win,” Harmon said. ”That was … first of all, that’s a very, very hard play to make and that shows you his skill set, his athletic ability – to be able to throw the ball, have it knocked down and be able to catch it where he caught it, and go in and run (on) a scoring dive, it shows his athletic ability. It shows that any time he touches the ball Customized Buffalo Bills Jerseys , he’s dangerous.”
Fellow safety Devin McCourty sees the same attributes in Mariota.
”It’s not like if he stays in the pocket he can’t make throws, but when he escapes outside the pocket and he has the ability to run and throw, you honestly really don’t have a shot to stop him, I think,” McCourty said.
”We’ve played quarterbacks like this where we do want to try to keep him in the pocket, but I think that’s just the beginning part of it. We also, when we’re man coverage or zone coverage, we’ve got to be able to play our zones or our man tight and not allow windows or not allow a great pocket for him to sit back there and throw because he’s a good enough passer that he’ll make all the throws on the football field.”
McCourty pointed to a pass Mariota made to Delanie Walker against Indianapolis that was between four players on the sideline.
”That was a tough throw, and that was in the pocket,” he noted. ”But I think we’ll have a better chance that way than him being able to escape, throw it deep or run for 30 or 40 yards. So, it’s going to be all 11 guys kind of playing their job with trying to contain him.”
Mariota was sixth in the NFL in third-down passer rating this season, a list headed by the Patriots’ Tom Brady.
”An extremely athletic guy, so there is a huge factor of mobility with him,” New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said. ”But, you know, he’s a very strong-armed quarterback, he can extend plays, he can scramble to run or he can get out of trouble and then find his receivers downfield. He also has a run element to him, and the run game is very extensive.”
NOTES: The Patriots may get both James White and Rex Burkhead back from injury for this game – both are practicing on a limited basis. Burkhead was asked Wednesday how he was feeling. ”Good. Just ready to get back out there … with the team. I’m just excited for the playoffs and everything that’s in store.” … LB Marquis Flowers missed practice Wednesday because of an illness.
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CAROLINA (11-5) at NEW ORLEANS (11-5)
Sunday Johan Larsson Jersey , 4:40 p.m. ET, Fox
OPENING LINE – Saints by 5+
RECORD VS. SPREAD – Carolina 9-7, New Orleans 8-8
SERIES RECORD – Panthers lead 24-22
LAST MEETING – Saints beat Panthers 31-21, Dec. 3, 2017
LAST WEEK – Panthers lost to Falcons 22-10; Saints lost to Buccaneers 31-24
AP PRO32 RANKING – Panthers No. 7, Saints No. 6
PANTHERS OFFENSE – OVERALL (19), RUSH (4), PASS (28)
PANTHERS DEFENSE – OVERALL (7), RUSH (3), PASS (18)
SAINTS OFFENSE – OVERALL (2), RUSH (5), PASS (5)
SAINTS DEFENSE – OVERALL (17), RUSH (16), PASS (15)
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES – NFC South rivals meeting in playoffs for first time. … Teams had 12 games against common opponents, with Carolina going 10-2 and Saints 8-4. … Panthers in playoffs for fourth time in five seasons. Lost in Super Bowl to Broncos two seasons ago. Missed playoffs last season. … Ron Rivera is first Panthers coach with four playoff appearances. … Carolina ranked third in NFL in sacks with 50 and was only team in NFC with two players getting 10-plus sacks each. DEs Mario Addison and Julius Peppers each had 11 sacks during regular season. … Panthers TE Greg Olsen will play vs. Saints for first time this season after missing previous meetings with foot injury. … Panthers QB Cam Newton has 10 TDs (eight passing, two rushing) in six career playoff games. … Newton led NFL QBs with career-high 754 yards rushing, tied for league lead among QBs with six TDs rushing. He has three seasons with 700-plus rush yards, tied with Michael Vick for most by QB in NFL history. … RB Christian McCaffrey ranked second among NFL rookies with 80 receptions, fourth most all-time by rookie RB. Ranked fourth among NFL rookies with 1 Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey ,086 scrimmage yards. Set franchise rookie records in scrimmage yards and catches with 80. … WR Devin Funchess led team with career-high 840 yards receiving, eight TD catches. … LB Luke Kuechly was only Panther voted to Pro Bowl. Kuechly led team with 125 tackles, his sixth season with 100-plus, tied with LB Thomas Davis for most in team history. … Saints are NFC South champions for first time since 2011, making first playoff appearance since 2013 season. … Saints held tiebreaker over Panthers by winning both regular-season meetings. … Saints in playoffs for sixth time since Sean Payton became coach in 2006. … Saints were 7-1 at home this season, have won five straight home playoff games. … QB Drew Brees completed 72 percent of passes, setting single-season NFL record. He ranked fourth in NFL with 4,334 yards passing, his NFL-record 12th straight season with 4,000-plus yards. … RB Mark Ingram set career highs in yards rushing with 1,124 and scrimmage yards with 1,540. … RB Alvin Kamara ranked second in NFL with 14 total TDs. Kamara was second among NFL rookies with 1,554 scrimmage yards. One of only two rookies in NFL history with five-plus TDs rushing, five-plus TDs receiving and at least one kick return TD. Other was Gale Sayers in 1965. … WR Michael Thomas ranked third in NFL with 104 catches. He has 196 career receptions, most by player in first two seasons in NFL history. … WR Ted Ginn spent three of previous four seasons with Carolina. … DE Cameron Jordan tied for fourth in NFL with career-high 13 sacks. Jordan was only NFL DL with 10-plus passes defensed, including INT for TD. … CB Marshon Lattimore leads Saints and all NFL rookies with five INTs.
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