Football and football? London game to be soccer fan Mariota's third at prominent ground

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  John KeimSep 30, 2026, 07:33 PM ET

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  John Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored/co-authored four books. You can also listen to him on 'The John Keim Report', which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.

HERTFORDSHIRE, England -- The first sport Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota played as a kid -- soccer -- continues to help him in the one he plays as an adult. But the combination of the two is why Mariota is ecstatic about another opportunity to play in a famed soccer stadium.

There's a strong chance Mariota starts Sunday in place of Jayden Daniels, who was limited in practice Wednesday with a dislocated left elbow. If that happens, then Mariota will have performed a meaningful trifecta for himself: starting football games in three iconic soccer stadiums.

The Commanders (1-2) play the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, home of the team of the same name. Mariota started at the Bernabeu Stadium last season (Real Madrid) and at Wembley, where the England national team plays, in 2019.

In those two games, Mariota lost to the Los Angeles Chargers on a failed two-point conversion at Wembley while playing for the Tennessee Titans; and to the Miami Dolphins in overtime last season. He has a chance to prove that the third time is, indeed, a charm Sunday.

"I grew up being around the game," Mariota said. "So, to play at Wembley and then last year play in Madrid and then now play at Tottenham that's really cool for me. It's kind of a cool moment. So, I'm looking forward to it."

When asked who his favorite Spurs player was, Mariota said former star Harry Kane, the club's all-time leading scorer who left to play with Bayern Munich in 2023.

"I know that might be a little bit rough right now," he said, laughing.

Mariota has been known for his elusive runs, sometimes spinning out of and emerging from harrowing situations in the pocket. And to be a quarterback in the NFL requires having adept footwork.

That's why he said there's a definite connection between the sports.

"Spatial awareness," he said about how soccer helped him. "As you play soccer -- fútbol -- like, you had to know the next move before the ball came to you. And being able to see the field, where people were at, kind of diagnose where to put the ball, I feel like that helped my spatial awareness as a quarterback."

In the pocket, it's also about taking drops.

"All the footwork stuff, definitely," he said. "Whether it's taking five, seven step drops, being out of gun, out of pistol. All those things are little things, but things that I felt like fundamentally soccer brought to me. So, I love the game."

Mariota said he doesn't have a favorite team, but added his brother, Matt, is "religious" about following the English Premier League. Matt Mariota, a former walk-on at Oregon, also played some college football in England at Leeds Carnegie. His team? Liverpool.

The nice thing for Mariota and Washington is that he's coming off a strong performance in a 33-31 win over Seattle, throwing for 176 yards and three touchdown passes.

"I've always had a belief in myself. So that 'prove it' has never really crossed my mind," he said. "I'm not here to prove anything."

Besides, Sunday isn't just about proving what he can do, it's also about enjoying where he's doing it.

And he wants to hand that love of soccer and its fundamentals to his two children.

"It was the first game I played, and as my kids are growing up," he said, "I definitely push them into that direction because I think it's just a, it's such a good fundamental sport for everything."