Bortles or Flacco: Which Quarterback Is Having The Better Season?
By Larry Brake
The Jacksonville Jaguars will face the Baltimore Ravens in London on Sunday. Which quarterback, Blake Bortles or Joe Flacco, is having the better season?
The 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars will host the 2-0 Baltimore Ravens in London on Sunday. Questions concerning both starting quarterbacks have fans concerned. Which quarterback, statistically, is having the better season so far, Blake Bortles or Joe Flacco?
First of all, Bortles has ten more passing yards 348 to 338. He has thrown one less touchdown pass than his Ravens counterpart. However, both quarterbacks have thrown two interceptions.
Seems like Flacco would have bigger numbers due to the fact that they have outscored their two opponents 44-10. The Ravens signal caller has only one completed pass for over forty yards. He had a 48 yard touchdown pass in week one. Bortles has not completed any passes forty yards and more.
Physically, both quarterbacks have similar builds. Bortles is an inch shorter at 6’5. He is ten pounds lighter at 235 pounds. Footballoutsiders.com ranks the Jaguars pass protection at number four and Baltimore at twelfth.
So far, both quarterbacks appear to be having similar seasons. Jacksonville has faced tougher opponents. Both defenses have played huge roles in the victories.
The next gen stats on NFL.com charts each pass per game of every NFL quarterback. Bortles has a short pass offensive scheme. Not much difference for the Baltimore offense. Seems like they are still very similar in pass attempt yardage levels. There is no clear winner in next gen stats.
Maybe accuracy will really differentiate between the two. Bortles has 31 completions out of 55 attempts for a 56% completion rate. Flacco has 34 completions out of 51 attempts resulting in a 66.7% completion rate.
Finally, Bortles has a quarterback rating of 72.4 which is 16.1 points behind Flacco. Neither quarterback is tearing up the league. Turnovers will be the difference in the game on Sunday. The answer to which quarterback is having the better year … it comes down to winning. Jacksonville must do what it takes to win and win decisively.