Week 12 Post-Game Prescription: Let Blake Bortles Air It Out

Hello everyone, Dr. Luke* here with your post-game prescription. This week we’ll turn our attention to quandary that is Blake Bortles.

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With the Jacksonville Jaguars now settling into 1-10 and now last in the NFL (Congrats to the Oakland Raiders for winning and joining the Jags), the Jacksonville Jaguars have little to play for aside from pride and development. Blake Bortles in particular needs to show he can make strides over the final five games.

Development is key for the Jaguars as they evaluate where the team is ending the season and who is going to be an important piece going forward.

With Blake Bortles, we already know he is going to be a fixture for the franchise, hopefully over the coming decade. So in the next five weeks we want to see Bortles attempt a range of throws and judge how he falls in short, intermediate, and deep routes. During the game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday we saw plenty of what Bortles can do on short throws. We know he can get it out on the flat as well as the next quarterback.

Next game, Blake Bortles needs to air it out.

Part of the problem was the suspect play calling. Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch seemed to add training wheels to the offense coming out of the bye, not trusting Bortles to air it out.

Another part of the problem could be a shift in confidence as Bortles has struggled to overcome turnover problems so far this season.

No matter the cause, it’s time for the Jaguars to see what they have in Bortles and stop worrying about consequences. We saw a careful game plan on Sunday and it didn’t lead to more competitive football. Instead we got a weird Chad Henne-type performance that was reminiscent of Blaine Gabbert. The Jaguars have been more competitive with Bortles and his receivers stretching the field, opening up the running game behind Denard Robinson.

The team needs to get back to that.

Following this week’s loss, I prescribe at least three passes of 15+ yards from Blake Bortles. Side effects may include: an improved running game, a more confident rookie quarterback, interceptions, people not changing the channel.

*not a real doctor (of course)