Jacksonville Jaguars - Orange is the New Black

https://theathletic.com/528842/2018...aining-further-questions-about-blake-bortles/


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The criticism and dissection of Blake Bortles reached a point this offseason where teammates felt it necessary to develop a public rallying cry of sorts to combat the endless stream of doubt.

Not that Jaguars players paid any attention to what was said outside their building. But when the questions kept coming — Is Bortles really a franchise quarterback? Shouldn’t the team have invested in Kirk Cousins instead? Can this team actually win a Super Bowl without someone “elite” under center? — they got tired of answering candidly, of defending a man they wholeheartedly believe in, of trying to convince the rest of the world of something they already knew to be true.

So they channeled their inner Terrell Owens — minus the tears, of course. The line was simple: “That’s my quarterback.” Three words, but entirely telling. And the Jaguars waited for the rest of the NFL to realize exactly what they have in No. 5.

That moment came Sunday, on a muggy, disgusting, viciously hot late afternoon in northeastern Florida, when Blake Bortles — the man maligned and bashed and mocked for years — outplayed the greatest quarterback to ever lace them up. Bortles did it in defiant fashion, leading the Jaguars to a 31-20 victory over the Patriots in the home opener at TIAA Bank Field.

He dropped pinpoint passes. He scrambled for first downs, spinning and twisting, juking and pump-faking. On one gutsy third-down run in the fourth quarter, he lowered his helmet and delivered a crushing blow to New England cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Gasps reverberated around the stadium. It was the type of collision that often results in concussions and weeks missed. Bortles was unfazed. When the referee marked him short of the first down, Bortles turned around as he rose to his knees and screamed: “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“He is a competitor,” said defensive end Calais Campbell. “He loves this game.”

By the time Bortles took the final knee with 26 seconds remaining, he’d completed 29 of his 45 pass attempts for 377 yards and four touchdowns. He added 35 yards rushing on six attempts. The lone blemish in his stat line was an interception early in the fourth quarter that went in and out of the hands of tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Tom Brady, meanwhile, finished with 234 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Given the circumstances, this was the best performance of Bortles’ career. Despite all the downplaying in the lead-up to Sunday’s game, the Jaguars desperately wanted revenge for last year’s AFC championship game loss to the Patriots in Foxborough. And, more importantly, Jacksonville was without running back Leonard Fournette, who sat with a hamstring injury Sunday.

The Jaguars needed Blake Bortles to be special. They needed him to play like a franchise quarterback.

He was, and he did.

“I’ve been trying to tell everybody this since I got here — that he’s a good quarterback, man, and he lets people make plays,” said Seferian-Jenkins, who signed with the Jags this offseason and caught one of Bortles’ four TD passes Sunday, a third-down completion right before halftime. “There was no more evidence of that (than today) — standing in the pocket, third down, with pressure, delivering the ball on a fucking line to me or whoever it needed to be. He just makes plays, and I’m happy he had a good game today because he deserves it. He’s worked for it, and he’s so underrated. He’s the most underrated quarterback in the NFL, and we’re very, very lucky to have him.”

The feeling around the Jaguars’ locker room was understandable: We told you so.

“That’s my quarterback,” said safety Tashaun Gipson, who was the key in the Jags holding Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski to just two catches for 15 yards. “Look at the way he played, man. I’ve been saying this since last year. People can say what they want, but the dude is phenomenal. And when he’s on, he’s on. So all the negativity that people want to say about Blake, at the end of the day, he’s winning football games. And right now, he’s 2-0 as our starting quarterback, and he went out there and dominated. Played a damn near perfect game.”

Added wide receiver Keelan Cole, who led the Jags with seven catches for 116 yards, including a dazzling one-handed grab in the first quarter: “Blake’s my quarterback. I trust Blake. Blake trusts Blake. The coaches trust Blake. The Jaguars trust Blake. That’s all that we need to know in order for Blake to be that man. It really don’t matter what anybody else says. Blake’s here, we’re winning and he’s doing his thing.”

So will the recognition come now? Will Bortles stop being a punchline and start receiving the respect his teammates think he rightfully deserves?

Probably not. But then again, they don’t really care.

“That’s the thing about respect. Respect is earned. And he’s earning it,” Seferian-Jenkins said. “Everyone knows, in this building, what he’s capable of and what he can do. And I think he’s just scratching the surface, honestly. It’s a really, really exciting time to watch. I feel very fortunate that I can watch the development and progression of Blake Bortles.

“Today was just a really good little snippet of how good he can be.”

 

That was a gross offensive game. Basically every one on offense sucked.