Has Blake Bortles Lost OC Jedd Fisch’s Trust?

The Jacksonville Jaguars featured the blandest offense they have fielded so far this season, confirming our worst fears that offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch was simplifying the game plan and playing it cautiously. Blake Bortles failed to move the ball downfield as a result. He only completed five passes to wide receivers. His top receiver was running back Denard Robinson.

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What we learned today was that Blake Bortles can hit running backs out on the flat.

We also re-discovered that doesn’t do much to move the ball or win football games. But for those of us who endured the Blaine Gabbert years, this is all too familiar.

Which is what makes this incredibly frustrating. Jedd Fisch and Blake Bortles were supposed to be the solution for our Gabbert woes. They were supposed to bring in a slinging, up tempo offense.

Instead we saw Blake Bortles check down again and again, occasionally leaving an open receiver in favor of the running backs.

Bortles finished the day 15 of 27 for just 146 yards and one interception. It was easily his worst outing as a pro. His games with two or more interceptions were more invigorating, more competitive, and made us all yearn for the future.

The Blake Bortles that came out on Sunday was flat.

It makes us wonder if Jedd Fisch doesn’t trust his ballsy quarterback or if Bortles has finally broken after leading the league in interceptions. If it’s the latter then the Jaguars are in for a hot mess over the next few seasons, as it is much easier to tone down aggression than to rebuild a quarterback’s confidence.

If it’s the former – if the interceptions have caused Fisch to tone it down – then the Jaguars are doing a disservice to their 2014 first round pick. Blake Bortles has a big time arm, he has shown he wants to be aggressive. Forcing him to scale back and toss it to his running backs is not the future. That’s backward (literally, oftentimes). Fisch needs to dial it up and let Bortles take his lumps as the team stretches the field vertically.

The inability to stretch the field let the Indianapolis Colts stack the box against Denard Robinson, forcing the running back to turn in his worst performance in recent weeks.

Blake Bortles and Jedd Fisch need to come together to find a happy medium. They need to do it fast. Today’s offense was tough to watch.