Jacksonville Jaguars vs New York Jets duds
By Luke Sims
, tight end
The Blake Bortles-Julius Thomas connection has yet to feel “natural” since Thomas joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015. This isn’t to say it hasn’t been effective (455 yards, five touchdowns in 2015) but it could certainly improve.
The Jags brought Thomas to town to do essentially one thing: make mismatches in the end zone and catch touchdowns.
With that in mind, it was no surprise that Bortles looked to Thomas from a few yards out and threw him the ball. It wasn’t a perfect throw, but it was catchable. Thomas, naturally, couldn’t hang on.
Bortles, to his credit, took the responsibility for the errant play:
"We had a little bit of a miscommunication. He ended up running a little bit deeper than I thought so I double-clutched it and then gave him a bad ball so my fault. I’ve got to make sure we’re on the same page because that was an easy touchdown."
Regardless if the pass was a bit off, Thomas is paid the big bucks to make those catches. He needs to make those catches.
Everybody knew there would be a drop off when Thomas came to Jacksonville after two years with Peyton Manning as his quarterback. Everybody knew that all the passes from Bortles wouldn’t be perfect. That’s exactly why the Jags needed Thomas and exactly why he needs to step up.
We’re still waiting to see Thomas really dominate and he fell flat in his one chance to shine against the Jets.
Next: A running back to step up