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Blake Bortles shifts blame away from play-calling for week 1 dud

By Daniel Lago

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There was plenty of blame to go around after the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-9 week 1 loss to the Carolina Panthers, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Receivers were dropping passes,

Blake Bortles

was throwing interceptions, and the coaching staff seemingly abandoned a rushing attack that was relatively effective early on in the game.

Some fans were vehement about the play-calling being an issue in the game, but Bortles shot those accusations down on Wednesday afternoon as he compared blaming the plays to a kindergartener being out of their depth:

Some will probably take this the wrong way and frame it as Bortles criticizing the fans, but it’s appears to be more about Bortles taking the blame for their poor performance on Sunday. There were plenty of missed opportunities on offense throughout the game and it was really a handful of mistakes by the QB and his receivers that kept the Jaguars from taking control.

While I agree that the players on offense are more to blame for the poor performance against the Panthers, it’s still baffling why the coaches opted to throw the ball a staggering 40 times. Yeldon looked to be in a good rhythm after his first few carries, ripping off runs of 14, 11, 6, and 7 yards. I’d be shocked if the Jaguars don’t utilize Yeldon and Denard Robinson significantly more in their week 2 matchup against the Dolphins.

I think Bortles will eventually be able to handle the kind of workload the coaches put on his shoulders in week 1, but it’s still too much to ask of a young quarterback learning his second offensive scheme in as many seasons. The Jaguars need to establish a solid and consistent rushing attack to open up the play action pass and give Bortles some bigger windows to throw into.

Next: Jaguars need to find offense on Sunday

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