Jacksonville Jaguars Defense Abused by Andrew Luck, Colts in 44-17 Loss

Blake Bortles is finally the starting quarterback, but it took some of the ugliest football in the history of the franchise.

The Jacksonville Jaguars came into their home opener on Sunday hoping to bounce back from an awful performance in week 2, but instead they had probably the worst half of football in the history of the franchise against the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars were down 30-0 at halftime, and it wasn’t even really that close. The Jaguars were completely ineffective on offense, and the defense could do nothing to slow down Andrew Luck and his stable of running backs.

Before leaving the game late in the 2nd half, Luck did whatever he wanted to a helpless Jacksonville defense. Despite missing on a few throws, Luck finished with an almost perfect day statistically.

For now, the story of this game from the Jaguars point of view is the debut and now anointment of Blake Bortles as the starting quarterback, but the real story long-term is the horrific play of the defense. Going into the season, the Jaguars were expected to be significantly improved on defense thanks to the addition of some veterans via free-agency and the development of some talented young guys in the secondary. In the first half, the Jaguars gave up 335 yards to the Colts offense on the way to a 30-0 deficit, and it could have been worse. The hope moving forward is that some more sustained drives by the offense will help the defense stay fresh and play better, but it’s unreasonable to expect a massive improvement this season.

There’s a lot more to look forward to over the next 13 games thanks to Blake Bortles, but this defense needs to find  a way to be effective if the Jaguars want to match their 2013 win total.