ATLANTA -- Three years ago last week, Marcus Mariota lost his job. He wasn’t fired, but demoted midgame with the Tennessee Titans. Ryan Tannehill replaced him at quarterback, giving Mariota's confidence a hit and sending him on a three-team, three-year journey.
It’s a period of Mariota’s life he has mentioned often during his first months in Atlanta, where he’s once again a starting quarterback. On Sunday, he thought a little bit about it all -- the benching, the journey, the return and perhaps even the irony of it.