Blake Bortles Looks Comfortable After Titans Lead 30-3

Blake Bortles looks comfortable while padding his garbage time statistics.

Blake Bortles played good enough to win in Houston last week.  He played like a game manager which is his strength.  Today, he looked the most comfortable after Tennessee led 30-3.

Pro Football Focus.com graded Bortles 71.5 for his game performance.  Their performances of note says:

"QB BLAKE BORTLES, 71.5 OVERALL GRADEA three-turnover day is never good, but there is some sympathy for Bortles. He got away with his worst throw with 14:23 to go in Q2, but then saw two balls knocked into the arms of waiting defenders, while his fumble was more the fault of Cam Robinson than anything he did. That said, the rest of his play was underwhelming, and while he was competent enough for the most part, as the Titans put their foot on the gas offensively, Bortles just couldn’t compete with them. He was particularly flustered by the blitz where he completed just 36.4 percent of his passes."

The grade seems fairly high considering how ineffective Bortles looked for the better part of three quarters. Bortles did what he was asked to do in week 1 and it worked, but in week 2 he needed to do more and couldn’t provide the production. The Jaguars couldn’t get much going in the run game early on and the team kept getting into bad down-and-distances thanks to penalties. Bortles needed to provide a spark through the passing game and just couldn’t do it.

John Oehser of Jaguars.com says this of Bortles’ game performance:

"Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles completed 20 of 34 passes for 223 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions, but his statistics were 7-of-18 for 57 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions deep into the third quarter when the Titans held a 30-3 lead."

Bortles finished the game 20 of 34 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown to Allen Hurns.  He threw two interceptions and fumbled once.  After Tennessee went ahead 30-3, Bottles went 13 of 16 passes for 166 yards and his touchdown pass.  He appeared more relaxed being behind 27 points.

Next Gen Stats of NFL.com charted Bortles’ passes against the Tennessee defense.  Bortles did not complete a pass for twenty yards or more.  Most of his completions were ten yards and under.  Basically, he is a dink and dunk passer. Bortles is arguably the greatest garbage-time quarterback in the history of the NFL, but he hasn’t been able to play like that at the beginning of games.

Since Bortles is the only option at quarterback, it could be a long season for the Jaguars. Apparently the Jacksonville front office is determined to prove Bortles is the real deal.  As a Oklahoma Sooner graduate, Baker Mayfield would be a perfect fit in black and teal.