Can Blake Bortles dominate in his reps against Bucs?
By Luke Sims
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is still working to show the NFL that he’s the real deal and a step forward would be a fast start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
There’s no question that Blake Bortles has proven himself to the Jacksonville Jaguars faithful. Those of us who follow the Jags have no problem anointing him as the franchise quarterback we’ve long awaited, even with legitimate concerns about his play.
Still, outside of those who love the Jags, Bortles still has to prove that he can be something special.
in the second preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bortles has a chance to show that he can be a dominant player. In his limited reps he will need to put a lot of his skills on display to both keep the Jags faithful confident and also give a taste of things to come in the regular season for everyone else.
As Jags write John Oehser mentioned in his “10 things” piece before the game:
"Start fast. Again with this? Yes … again with this. The Jaguars’ rightfully gained confidence from their two-possession, 10-point first-quarter performance against the Jets. The unit dictated tempo, ran effectively and nearly registered back-to-back touchdown drives. This offense looked the part of an improved growing unit. Make that a trend."
That fast start is arguably the best indication we will get prior to the actual regular season that Bortles can prove his doubters wrong. The same doubters that put Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, and Derek Carr ahead of Bortles in their prediction of the best QBs in the future.
The third preseason game is traditionally the dress rehearsal, but it’s nice to see flashes in all of the reps we get to see Blake Bortles in. He looked sharp (in part due to his tremendous receivers) in the preseason opener and can be even better against the Bucs.
Starting fast also hints toward what the Jags can do in the regular season. They can start ahead of the opposition, rather than playing catchup like they did for a significant portion of the 2015 season.
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Look to see what he’s capable of delivering tonight and how it may look for the rest of the season.