Marc Mariani didn’t see the field too much in his third preseason game with the Tennessee Titans Saturday night in Nashville.
But before he left the game early, he still had an impact.
Mariani returned a kickoff 37 yards in Saturday night’s 14-13 Titans’ win over the Chicago Bears at LP Field in Nashville. It was Mariani’s longest return of the preseason, a season I which kick returners like Mariani have had to adjust to new NFL rules which see the kickers kick off from the 35-yard-line. In fact, in Mariani’s two other chances in the first half of Saturday night’s game, he watch one ball sail through the back of the endzone and another land in the endzone s
tands behind him.
Still, his kickoff return helped the Titans set up good field position what turned out to be a low-scoring game.
But Mariani’s night ended early as it was reported in the fourth quarter that he had been getting attention by the training staff for what looked to be a right ankle sprain. Mariani had one punt return for five yards against the Bears, as well as one tackle on special teams. He did not have a catch.
As for moving forward, the injury did not appear to be serious, but Titans head coach Mike Munchak did comment during his Sunday afternoon press conference.
“Again, I don’t know a whole lot,” Munchak said. “We will know more probably this evening or tomorrow as far as how Marc (Mariani) is doing. He will probably not play Thursday, but from there I think we will be fine. I don’t think it’s anything to be too concerned besides the fact that it’s a four-day week and we are playing on Thursday so it will probably be harder for some of these guys to play right away coming off of an injury.”
The Titans are slated to close the preseason in Thursday night against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans.
