Mariota entered Sunday's 37-20 loss to the Cowboys to start the second half in place of Jayden Daniels (elbow) and completed 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions while rushing once for three yards.
As he's often done in his career, Mariota took the reins of the offense from an injured starter and put together solid numbers. However, the veteran signal-caller managed to only lead Washington to 10 second-half points after the Commanders had already gone into intermission with a 17-10 deficit. Mariota's one touchdown pass went to Stefon Diggs from 20 yards out with 9:03 remaining to bring the Commanders within 10 points, but the Cowboys responded with an 11-play, 83-yard march that culminated in CeeDee Lamb's second touchdown catch of the afternoon. Tom Pelissero of Netflix reports Daniels dislocated his left elbow Sunday as he had done last season, and although an X-ray ruled out a fracture, Mariota is expected to be in for a multi-game stint as the starting quarterback.