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Week 5: Blake Bortles has a career day, still can’t win

By Luke Sims

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Blake Bortles had about as good of a day as you can expect from a second-year quarterback on Sunday.

Still clawing his way back after being the worst quarterback in the NFL during his rookie campaign in 2014, Sunday’s four touchdown, 303 yard performance was easily Bortles’ best. It was a career day for the young quarterback and even with him firing on all cylinders for much of the day, the Jags couldn’t win.

In a 31-38 loss that saw the Jaclsonville Jaguars fall to 1-4 and saw Bortles’ starting record slip to 4-15, the young quarterback still had a stellar day. Completing 69.7% of his 33 passes for 303 yards with four touchdowns and one interception, Bortles was able to lead many scoring drives and keep the Jags in a game that would have gotten away from them without such a big day from the QB.

It was the offense that kept the team in this one. They did enough to win, but the team still lost.

Bortles finished the day with a QB rating of 125.4, which is easily his best mark of his career. He only has one other game above 100 in his career, and that also came this season in a victory over the Miami Dolphins.

The 303 yards was just the second time that Blake Bortles has topped 300. Last time he did it was against a miserable Tennessee Titans team in a 14-16 loss last season, almost exactly one year from Sunday’s defeat.

His four touchdowns doubles his previous best of two (which he has done four times previously). It was his third multi-touchdown game of the season, already improving on his mark of two games in 2014.

It was also his second-best completion percentage mark of his career. His first career start saw him get above 78% but since then he has has only been above 65% on two occasions. It’s his third completion percentage above 69% in his career.

Sure, all of these good things came against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that was ranked 25th against the pass heading into the Week 5 contest. Even so, this was a big day for Blake Bortles. These are big time accomplishments for any quarterback and it helps to show the progress that he has clearly made from his rookie year.

Unfortunately, Bortles and the Jaguars couldn’t get a win. It was a tough game against a bad team. But he still deserves to be acknowledged for his far-improved play.

Next: Blake Bortles and the Jaguars offense excels in loss

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