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MARIANI TAKES NFL YARDAGE LEAD: In the third quarter, Marc Mariani caught a 41-yard pass from Chris Simms. It was Mariani’s third play in three weeks of 37-plus yards. The rookie from Montana had a 60-yard kickoff return against Arizona (8/23) and a 37-yard reception at Carolina (8/28). He led all NFL players during the preseason with 444 combined net yards (131 receiving, 267 kickoff returns, 46 punt returns).

Not too shabby for a guy who started the preseason as the 2nd returner and the 6th receiver


And I love how the Titan fans are gradually being won over by the "small white kid from D2"
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Good for him.


And this year the Griz will see how much they miss him. Without Sparky, Montana loses games last year.

dbackjon wrote:Good for him.


And this year the Griz will see how much they miss him. Without Sparky, Montana loses games last year.

We had sparky last year numbnuts. Just as all the other teams had their players.

That's why we have them, to compete. We have guys that will compete this year as well.

We lost games with Mariani, we won games with him. We won NC's without him, we didn't win any while he was here. As I don't blame that on Mariani, I can't give him the credit of being a one man team. We have players all over the field and it's tough to understand this as an NAU fan because you guys always have to put all your eggs in one or two baskets.

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote:

dbackjon wrote:Good for him.


And this year the Griz will see how much they miss him. Without Sparky, Montana loses games last year.

We had sparky last year numbnuts. Just as all the other teams had their players.

That's why we have them, to compete. We have guys that will compete this year as well.

We lost games with Mariani, we won games with him. We won NC's without him, we didn't win any while he was here. As I don't blame that on Mariani, I can't give him the credit of being a one man team. We have players all over the field and it's tough to understand this as an NAU fan because you guys always have to put all your eggs in one or two baskets.

But you don't have another Sparky. Once in a generation player. Big drop off in talent from him to Sambrano, etc.

dbackjon wrote:

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote: We had sparky last year numbnuts. Just as all the other teams had their players.

That's why we have them, to compete. We have guys that will compete this year as well.

We lost games with Mariani, we won games with him. We won NC's without him, we didn't win any while he was here. As I don't blame that on Mariani, I can't give him the credit of being a one man team. We have players all over the field and it's tough to understand this as an NAU fan because you guys always have to put all your eggs in one or two baskets.

But you don't have another Sparky. Once in a generation player. Big drop off in talent from him to Sambrano, etc.

Really? That's good stuff slick.

Can't wait to see who you are professing is the downfall of the Griz in another couple of years.

You don't have to worry about falling off at NAU. It's always a short drop for you guys.

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote:

dbackjon wrote:
But you don't have another Sparky. Once in a generation player. Big drop off in talent from him to Sambrano, etc.

Really? That's good stuff slick.

Can't wait to see who you are professing is the downfall of the Griz in another couple of years.

You don't have to worry about falling off at NAU. It's always a short drop for you guys.

Your dig back at Jon aside, do you disagree that there's a big dropoff from Mariani's talent to the other WRs on the Griz starting roster?

By the way, a big congrats to Mariani. I hope he makes the team and represents BSC talent well.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote: Really? That's good stuff slick.

Can't wait to see who you are professing is the downfall of the Griz in another couple of years.

You don't have to worry about falling off at NAU. It's always a short drop for you guys.

Your dig back at Jon aside, do you disagree that there's a big dropoff from Mariani's talent to the other WRs on the Griz starting roster?

I do, yes. You'll see.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:By the way, a big congrats to Mariani. I hope he makes the team and represents BSC talent well.

But, our worst receiver is still better than Eastern's best.

Grizalltheway wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:By the way, a big congrats to Mariani. I hope he makes the team and represents BSC talent well.

But, our worst receiver is still better than Eastern's best.

Hardly.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:By the way, a big congrats to Mariani. I hope he makes the team and represents BSC talent well.

Starting returner for punts and kicks. And got in as a receiver once yesterday for a play designed to go to him but they batted it at the line

Grizalltheway wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:By the way, a big congrats to Mariani. I hope he makes the team and represents BSC talent well.

But, our worst receiver is still better than Eastern's best.

98 yard kick return TD against Denver

And a FUMBLE...


And yes, there is a big drop off from Mariani to the current GRIZ WR corp.

Ouch for Mariani today, huge high with the TD return, then fumbles the ball to give the game to Denver.

He must have been channeling Peter Nguyen on that play.

I don't Mariani ever had possession on the kickoff that Denver recovered. He unsuccesfully jumped in the air to catch the ball, but Denver recovered the kick - at least, thats what I remember.

grizband wrote:I don't Mariani ever had possession on the kickoff that Denver recovered. He unsuccesfully jumped in the air to catch the ball, but Denver recovered the kick - at least, thats what I remember.

It was a tough position, but Mariani did go for it, and got leveled. Not all his fault, poor blocking on his team's part.

Hero to goat, that is the NFL. He just needs to learn from it and get better.

dbackjon wrote:

grizband wrote:I don't Mariani ever had possession on the kickoff that Denver recovered. He unsuccesfully jumped in the air to catch the ball, but Denver recovered the kick - at least, thats what I remember.

It was a tough position, but Mariani did go for it, and got leveled. Not all his fault, poor blocking on his team's part.

He's got no choice but to go for it. It's a live ball.

AZGrizFan wrote:

dbackjon wrote:
It was a tough position, but Mariani did go for it, and got leveled. Not all his fault, poor blocking on his team's part.

He's got no choice but to go for it. It's a live ball.

I agree but in hindsight, I bet he wishes he would have just given a fair catch signal and my money says he will in the future.

Fair catch signal wouldn't have done much good for a ball that was bouncing in front of him. If MM didn't make the play on that ball, Denver would have recovered it without a Titan even touching it. He had to make the play on that ball. Took a weird hop and hit, and the game was sealed.

He just made a ridiculously good return to get the Titans in the red zone in the 4th against the Cowboys! Great run, great vision.

I'm not gonna say that Mariani just won the game for the Titans but....

Silenoz wrote:I'm not gonna say that Mariani just won the game for the Titans but....

The dumb celebration penalty helped the Titans, but wow, that return set the Titans up perfectly for the win. It's safe to say he had the key play of the game.