The craziest play of Marcus Mariota's NFL career happened against the Chiefs

Billy Heyen

The craziest play of Marcus Mariota's NFL career happened against the Chiefs image

Marcus Mariota will start against the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time in his NFL career on Monday night. He's standing in as the Washington Commanders' starting QB with Jayden Daniels out injured.

If it's anything like the first time, you'll want to keep your eyes glued to the screen.

Because the first time Mariota played the Chiefs, he had the wildest play of his entire football life en route to a win.

What happened? 

Mariota threw a touchdown to himself.

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Playing for the Tennessee Titans, Mariota rolled left and couldn't find anyone. Finally, he tried to whip a pass into tight coverage.

The Chiefs got in the way, but the ball deflected directly back at Mariota, who had the presence of mind to catch it and dive toward the pylon.

"I just got lucky there," Mariota said after that game. "I was trying to make a play, trying to give [receiver] Corey [Davis] a chance... Revis batted it up in the air and made a good play, and I was just kind of in the right place at the right time."

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The Titans were down 21-3 at the time. They scored 19 unanswered points to knock the Chiefs (and Alex Smith) out of the divisional round of the playoffs.

Mariota became the first player in the Super Bowl era to have a passing TD and a receiving TD in the same playoff game, and it came on one play.

"He can pass, he can run and he can block," Titans RB Derrick Henry said after that game. "Have you ever seen 'Friday Night Lights'? He can do it all. And then he caught the ball, too, on the bounce pass so a great job by him."

Contributing Writer