The Jaguars Don’t Need to Reel Back Blake Bortles

The Jacksonville Jaguars played much better than the score would indicate in  their 27-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday. The Jaguars 14-point deficit can be directly attributed to the two interceptions Blake Bortles threw that were returned for touchdowns. Consequently, many have declared the Jaguars coaching staff should scale down the playbook and essentially reel Bortles back in and try to turn him into a game manager for the rest of his rookie year.

Stop.

To be blunt, that’s the worst thing the Jaguars could do right now.

Luke Sims has written extensively about Bortles in recent days, and he really hit the nail on the head about what’s going on with Blake right now.

"While the Jaguars were playing poor football it was more than acceptable for Bortles to struggle (even though he didn’t really struggle) but now that the team has gotten better in all phases of the game (except perhaps on special teams) it is painfully obvious that the quarterback position is falling behind."

Everyone knew this was coming when the Jaguars inserted Bortles into the starting lineup. He’s a rookie quarterback who declared for the draft early and has a lot to learn before he can become an upper-echelon signal caller. When the Jaguars were getting blown out with Chad Henne at the helm,, the logic was “if we’re going to lose anyway, just play the kid and let him learn.” Now that the defense has emerged as an above average unit, the struggles on offense seem less acceptable.

Take a step back. Look at the entire situation.

Of the 10 starters around Bortles on offense, at least 6 have less than 2 years of experience starting in the NFL. His most targeted receiver is a second round rookie who missed basically the entire offseason. His offensive line features a 3rd round pick and 6th round pick starting as rookies. His running back is a converted college quarterback in his second season.

This isn’t to deflect blame from Bortles – his mistakes are mostly on him – but the Jaguars are nowhere near ready to become a cohesive and efficient unit on offense. A lot of guys on offense need to grow and develop, not just Bortles.

Yes, the interceptions are extremely frustrating, but they were likely going to happen regardless of when Bortles started. It’s better for Bortles to make those egregious mistakes now, instead of next year. His development cycle has already started and that’s a good thing. We’re going to start seeing the returns on this offense as the season goes on. Bortles just made his 5th start in week 8. Let’s revisit his development in week 14, 15, etc. and see if he’s still making the same mistakes.