What’s Next? Blake Bortles vs San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are no joke. They’re 2-1 and they’ve recently offed the defending Super Bowl champs. Phillip Rivers looks like he’s back on track and the offense is back to being a quiet threat in the NFL. But as Blake Bortles begins prepping for the weekend his focus will be on the defense. Bortles will be getting his first start of his NFL career against a unit that is currently ranked 10th in the league.

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If that doesn’t put a little dread in Bortles, then nothing will. He’s walking straight into the lion’s den for his first game as a pro. While there were some nice flashes in the game against the Indianapolis Colts, Bortles was playing in garbage time against a defense that had an incredibly comfortable lead to fall back on.

The key problem here is the Chargers’ running defense. They are the fifth best team in the ninth best team in the league in that category. They are second in total number of attempts against them. What this tells us that the Chargers are forcing team’s to pass early and pass often. Part of that is because the offense pulls ahead and part of that is because the running defense really is just that good.

The Jacksonville Jaguars don’t have a great rushing attack and if the Chargers can be as stout against the run as they have been in the past (against some incredibly good rushers) then the Jaguars will likely become one-dimensional very early in this game. That’s not good for Bortles, who has already shown he’s willing to take chances and try and force some throws. The Jags attempt the third least rushes in the league so expect Bortles to be throwing a lot on Sunday.

There he will likely find little respite. If the Jags are forced to be one-dimensional then the entire game will hinge on Bortles tossing the ball against a secondary that only has to focus on one part of the offense: the passing game. Bortles is a rookie. He will make mistakes.

The Chargers secondary isn’t a pushover, either. Eric Weddle and Brandon Flowers highlight a group of tough players who are able to clamp down on receivers and stop them from making plays after the catch – which is the primary way the Jaguars have been scoring this season. The Chargers’ passing defense ranks 15th in the league, but opposing offenses have been passing on them a lot. Despite this, the team is ranked fifth in first downs allowed. Don’t expect the secondary to let Bortles string together passes that move the chains in a row.

The stingy San Diego defense could be tough for Bortles to overcome in just his first start of his career. It will be telling whether he can move the ball down the field and especially if he can put the ball in the end zone. Last week Jags fans didn’t get a chance to see Bortles orchestrate drives throughout a game, but instead just seek points as quickly as possible to recover from a 30-0 deficit. He’ll have to try and limit mistakes while still showing the fearlessness he had against the Colts last week.

The major story line of this week will be Blake Bortles vs the San Diego defense.