Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota addressed the media after Thursday's practice. Here are four takeaways from his press conference.
1. He loves playing at Arrowhead Stadium.
Arrowhead Stadium has a reputation for being a difficult venue for the Kansas City Chiefs' opponents. It was voted by 111 players as the toughest place to play in the NFL because of the raucous fan base, brutal winter weather and design of the stadium that amplifies the crowd noise. The noise at Arrowhead reached 142.2 DB in 2014 -- a Guiness World Record.
Despite all that, Mariota loves playing at Arrowhead.
"I just love the atmosphere," he said. "It reminds me a lot of college. I love playing on the road. I think that kind of us versus everybody mentality is something that I really feel like I've thrived on in my career."
Mariota has had success at Arrowhead in the past. He and the Tennessee Titans pulled off a comeback against the Chiefs in the Wild Card round of the playoffs that included him throwing a touchdown pass to himself. Although Mariota has returned to Arrowhead since that game in 2018, it will be the first time as a starter.
And just because he likes playing there doesn't mean he believes it's an easy place to play. He knows Monday's game will be tough, so their execution has to be pristine.
"As long as you get everybody going on the same page and you're communicating, it allows you to be able to execute and do what you need to do."
2. He isn't changing his routine.
The Commanders were quick to rule Jayden Daniels out for Monday's game after he suffered a hamstring injury against the Dallas Cowboys. The decision was made early so that Daniels could focus solely on recovery and Mariota could get all the reps as the starter to prepare for the game.
But Mariota's process doesn't change even though he's getting more reps in practice.
"I really try to prepare like I'm the starter every week and I try to do all the mental reps," Mariota said. "Now more so I'm getting just more physical reps than I am the mental part of it."
Mariota believes his process allows him to be ready for any circumstance, regardless of how much responsibility he has in a game. If he prepares as if he's the starter during the week, despite being a backup, he will be ready if he needs to relieve Daniels as he has done in the past. Conversely, if he's named the starter earlier in the week, like he was on Thursday, then he already has a process that he trusts to get him ready.
"I try not to change my process through the week just because I feel like as long as I got my process, I can lean on that, whether I'm playing or not and it's worked well for me over the course of the last couple years."
3. Daniels has been an avid supporter for Mariota.
Of course, Daniels would rather be playing on Monday instead of focusing on getting his hamstring healthy, but he still wants Mariota to succeed and is willing to do whatever he can to help.
"He's just as much involved as if he were playing," Mariota said. "And I truly appreciate that about him, whether he's talking about things that he's seen on tape or whether he's getting a tidbit here and there from guys."
Like the other quarterbacks in the room, Daniels wants to arm the starter with as much information as possible so he can perform on the field. Mariota said Daniels shares all the information he gathers about opponents "whether he's playing or not," and that makes him stand out from the quarterbacks Mariota has played with in the past.
"I think that's what makes him different than a lot of people is his ability just to stay engaged whether he is playing or not."
4. He's excited for the possible return of Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel.
The Commanders are on track to have two of the best weapons back on the field against the Chiefs, as both McLaurin and Samuel returned to practice on Thursday and were full participants. Assuming they're both cleared to play, it would be the most depth the Commanders have had at receiver since Week 3.
And that's an exciting prospect for Mariota.
"Those guys are not only unbelievable football players, but they're great leaders. And when you go through these kind of adverse situations and you're kind of going and dealing with these valleys as a team, it's nice to kind of get a spark with those guys coming back out on the field."
