Peter Casey-Imagn Images
One of the stories of the Sunday Night Football game between the Washington Commanders and the Denver Broncos had nothing to do with what was happening on the field of play itself, but how it was being called from the broadcast booth.
With Commanders’ second-year starting quarterback Jayden Daniels sidelined by an injury, Washington turned to veteran signal-caller and former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, who has been with the team since last season.
While Mariota performed admirably against the 10-2 Broncos — he completed 28 of 50 passes for 294 yards, two touchdowns and an interceptions — the Commanders were thwarted on a two-point conversion that would’ve won the game for them in overtime, ultimately losing by a score of 27-26.
During the game, however, a ton of attention was being paid to how NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth was pronouncing Mariota’s name: Maar-e-o-TUH. Given that NFL fans have largely heard his name pronounced as Mar-e-ota, the assumption was that Collinsworth was messing up.
Collinsworth is pronouncing it like Marcus Mariota did in his intro, Tirico is pronouncing it the way I’ve most commonly heard it https://t.co/Vqkz1esyyI pic.twitter.com/gjA0AlbKns
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 1, 2025
“It’s MarioTAH, not Mariota” – Cris Collinsworth pic.twitter.com/s1IBolM7QW
— Not Robert Griffin (@Pseudo_RGIII) December 1, 2025
Marcus Mariota confirms that his name is actually pronounced the way that Cris Collinsworth was saying it on Sunday Night Football
Earlier this week, however, a journalist asked Mariota what the correct pronunciation of his name is and the former Oregon Duck QB confirmed that Collinsworth was actually correct.
Marcus Mariota sets the record straight on pronunciation pic.twitter.com/vMJU1ke3Fm
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) December 3, 2025
Mariota’s best season as a pro came during his second year in the NFL in 2016, when he complete 61.2% of his passes for 3,426 yards, 26 touchdows and 9 interceptios, while also rushing for 349 yards and another two touchdowns.
With Daniels’ status for the Commanders next game still up in the air, Mariota could be in line for another star this weekend agains the Vikings.