Marcus Mariota out this week; might play in finale

NASHVILLE -- Quarterback Marcus Mariota's season could be over, although the Tennessee Titans will monitor his injured right knee and make a final determination next week.

Mariota exited Sunday's 33-16 loss to the New England Patriots after being sacked by Jamie Collins in the second quarter. He did not return, though Titans interim head coach Mike Mularkey indicated that the staff considered putting him back in, but erred on the side of caution.

Mularkey said that Mariota would definitely be held out of this Sunday's game against the Houston Texans, but would not say that the rookie quarterback's season is over, holding out hope that he might return for the season finale against the Indianapolis Colts.

"He will be out this week and evaluated again at the start of next week to see where he is at. With that, the injury is basically the same as the other knee, but less serious," Mularkey said Monday.

Mariota missed two games earlier this season with a sprained MCL in his left knee.

As for the decision, the Titans seemingly have little to gain by putting the rookie quarterback back on the field. If he is not 100 percent healthy, it makes no sense to even send him back out again in a game that essentially will be meaningless for the Titans and might be meaningless for the Colts as well, as they are on the brink of playoff elimination and could be out by the time that game rolls around.

One of the edicts when Ken Whisenhunt was fired and replaced by Mularkey in mid-season was that Mariota had to be protected. Mularkey knows this, and said Mariota would only play in the event he is deemed healthy.

"If there are any issues, if we have any concerns as we did yesterday, we would not play him, if there was any way that he was not going to be capable of playing. No way," Mularkey said.

REPORT CARD VS PATRIOTS

--PASSING OFFENSE: C. The Titans gave up five sacks, including one that allowed Marcus Mariota to be injured. Another was a strip sack of Mariota that was returned for a touchdown. Zach Mettenberger threw two picks, but other than that played well, going 20 of 28 in relief of Mariota for 242 yards and two touchdowns.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: F. It was better than last week's 24-yard effort, but 59 yards on 21 carries isn't enough of an improvement to write home about.

--PASS DEFENSE: C-minus. They did a surprisingly decent job on Rob Gronkowski, who had five catches for 54 yards and a score. Tom Brady had two touchdown passes in the game and the Titans had just two sacks.

--RUN DEFENSE: C. Somebody named Joey Iosefa, fresh off the practice squad, had 51 yards on 14 carries for the Patriots against the Titans. Overall, the Titans allowed 93 yards on 26 carries, which isn't all that bad considering.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: D-minus. They did force one turnover on a punt, but they gave up a 75-yard return, missed an extra point and Tre McBride bobbled a kickoff and still brought the ball out pinning the offense at the 10-yard line to start one series.

--COACHING: C. The effort was better on Sunday than the week before against the Jets. The biggest decision was to hold Mariota out after he injured his knee. By erring on the side of caution with the franchise quarterback, that alone warrants a passing grade despite a so-so performance.