Jacksonville Jaguars Focused on Limiting Turnovers
By Luke Sims
After a three turnover performance on Sunday the Jacksonville Jaguars will place an emphasis on ball control going forward.
John Oehser of Jaguars.com highlighted the focus yesterday when offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch spoke to the media. To highlight part of that:
"Fisch said he felt Bortles responded fine after the interceptions, completing 18 of 34 passes for 221 yards and a 48-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to rookie wide receiver Allen Robinson.“I don’t think it affected him,” Fisch said. “It certainly didn’t seem like it affected him.”Fisch said he believes Bortles is learning from the mistakes, and that the rookie “knows that they hurt us, and it’s not something we want to live in, that world.”"
The best takeaway here is that the Jaguars believe Blake Bortles is learning from his mistakes and that he is responding well after the interceptions. The Jaguars are going to have to make sure Bortles understands how important ball control is but without shaking his confidence and it is heartening to hear that the team believes he is still very confident in his approach tot he game.
As the Jaguars continue to build momentum in other phases of the game, Bortles will have to learn to keep up and keep the ball safe as the team continues to drive on opponents with its new found running game.
The calls for the Jaguars to abandon Bortles on Twitter and from other fans should be limited. Turnovers, ball control, and good decision making are all things that can be taught or limited by coaching. What we should be focusing on is the good that Bortles displayed. As Fisch highlighted, the 18 of 34 for 221 yards and and 48-yard touchdown are all major positives. Another stat to highlight are the five drives the Jaguars pushed through the Miami 38 yard line. The Jaguars haven’t been able to drive like that in years.
Blake Bortles still raises all boats on this Jaguars team. The team is playing much better since he came in at quarterback.
Now that the team is playing better the coaches must make sure that Bortles can maintain consistent, quality play. The team knows that turnovers must be reduced. If Gus Bradley and Fisch know that, then we can expect progress to be made.