What’s Next? Blake Bortles must limit mistakes

Blake Bortles is the franchise quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Unlike Blaine Gabbert before him, there’s no question that Bortles is capable of being the kind of franchise quarterback every team needs.

…I just wish it didn’t come with some negatives.

Bortles has a propensity to look an awful lot like all-time great Brett Favre. While the good things are great (high production in passing yards and touchdowns) there are bad things that can absolutely decimate the Jags offense.

Chief among those bad things is the propensity for turnovers that Bortles continues to show through the season.

After his two interceptions and poorly timed fumble against the New York Jets, Bortles’ struggles with mistakes were completely laid bare before us. It wasn’t that we all expected Bortles to be Tom Brady in his second season, but his struggles with forcing throws and ball security continue.

After a rookie campaign that saw 17 interceptions fly, it was hoped that Bortles would be able to clamp down on those mistakes. While his interception percentage (as measured by Pro Football Reference) has dipped down to 3.2 percent, Bortles is still on pace to throw 20 interceptions this season. That’s three more than his rookie campaign in just 2.5 games longer.

While the increased touchdowns (already at 17 on the season, which is six better than last year) and passing yards (2193 through eight games) are masking the fact that Bortles is still struggling with turnovers, the Jaguars will struggle to win games with turnovers at this rate. All the good that Bortles can do may be erased with an ill timed pick or, worse yet, a pick-six.

There’s no doubt that Blake Bortles has made progress in his second season. He’s become a high risk, high reward quarterback and those rewards are such that many Jags fans have never seen from a quarterback before. The risks, however, are cringe-worthy.

Next: The Jags must get ahead early

If the Jacksonville Jaguars want to compete against some of the better teams in the NFL, Bortles will have to stop the mistakes. He must limit them going forward.

Bortles has eight more games in the season to really show improvement. Hopefully the latter eight will see less mistakes than the first eight.