Jacksonville Jaguars: Quarterback play still a hindrance

After an embarrassing loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Jacksonville Jaguars are officially at a crossroads, and they have their quarterback to thank.

We’re two weeks into the season, and it’s tough to completely determine what type of team the Jacksonville Jaguars are. In Week 1, the Jags introduced the Houston Texans to “Sacksonville,” as the team rode a dominant defensive performance to victory. It seemed like the Jaguars were poised to enjoy a productive season.

But then the Jaguars reverted back to old habits against the Titans, and looked more like the team that’s been an AFC basement dweller since 2010. Blake Bortles, who had a quiet but safe game against the Texans, threw two picks. Jacksonville’s defense allowed 390 total net yards. The defense that crushed Houston for 10 sacks recorded one.

So what type of team is Jacksonville?

The simple answer would be “a team with a broken quarterback”. While Bortles’ numbers from Jacksonville’s game may not look awful, most of his production came in garbage time when the Jaguars were already out of the game. Bortles tossed two interceptions and was overall ineffective.

The issue with Jacksonville is that the blueprint is there for a promising team. The defense is young, hungry and talented, and Leonard Fournette is a legitimate force at running back. The only issue is that if the team needs to throw the ball, things will get murky.

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What Jacksonville did to Houston in Week 1 was simple: terrorize an inept quarterback, run the ball and play defense. On Sunday, Tennessee turned the tables on them in that regard.

If the Jaguars fall behind early, then the game is essentially over. This team simply cannot throw the ball with Bortles playing like the worst quarterback in the NFL. You could certainly argue Jacksonville’s approach to the 2017 season parallels Tennessee’s approach to the 2016 season. The glaring difference, however, is that the Titans had a competent, smart quarterback to operate the offense.

Unfortunately for the Jaguars, there aren’t too many solutions to their quarterback conundrum. Chad Henne may provide a marginal improvement, but that’s not saying much. Colin Kaepernick is still a free agent. A.J. McCarron could be a potential trade target — but then again, maybe not with the way Andy Dalton’s been playing. Basically, replacing Bortles isn’t going to be simple.

Furthermore, with Allen Robinson out of action for the rest of the year, playing quarterback for Jacksonville is now immensely more difficult.

At some point, Jacksonville’s clear neglect of the quarterback position becomes a disservice to the other players, as well as the fans. Tom Coughlin claiming Bortles improved his throwing motion in the offseason cannot mask the overall ineffectiveness of Bortles. The Jaguars can continue to hold onto blind faith in the former third-overall pick, but it’s fooling nobody.

Look at what Indianapolis did to improve their quarterback room. Andrew Luck is hurt, and Scott Tolzien was miserable in his one start. Because of that, the Colts traded for Jacoby Brissett. The Colts understood they weren’t going to be competitive with Tolzien, and they pulled the trigger on an improvement. The Jaguars would be wise to follow their division rival’s strategy.

Quite frankly, Bortles’ draft pedigree is the only thing keeping him in the starting lineup. If he were a third-round pick, or even a second-round pick, he would’ve been benched by now.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Week 3

If you want a game that could send Bortles to the bench, look no further than next week. The Jaguars face the Baltimore Ravens next, which doesn’t bode well at all for Bortles and the offense. In two games, the Ravens have already snagged eight interceptions. That’s a recipe for absolute disaster for a one-dimensional offense.

Simply put, the Jaguars need to do something to salvage this season, and that can only be done by making a change at quarterback.