The Jacksonville Jaguars soundly defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. Blake Bortles played a small role in the victory, but doesn’t care about his stats.
The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers due to their opportunistic play on defense. The defense scored twice and took the pressure off the Jaguars offense. That’s fine by quarterback Blake Bortles — he says that winning is the most important thing.
Bortles threw only 14 passes in the win. He only threw one pass in the second half. For the game, Bortles was 8-of-14 for 95 yards and an interception, which was not his fault.
Michael DiRocco ESPN quoted Bortles following the game as saying:
"“As I’ve said many times, I [couldn’t] care less about my numbers,” Bortles said. “I really do not care. If we are going to run the ball the way we ran the ball today, I would hand it off every time.”"
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Bortles may be playing the team-first card, but he must realize that Jacksonville can not depend upon the defense to score touchdowns every week. He is going to have to get better. In fact, there may be a game soon where the team will need a late game winning drive.
The former UCF standout must stay focused on leading the Jaguars offense. Bortles is an average quarterback with a big but inconsistent arm. How far the Jaguars season progresses ultimately resides in his arm.
Teams will begin to stack the box on more plays now after playing Pittsburgh. An ineffective passing game will render the Jaguars as a one-dimensional offense. Bortles has to play better each week. The running game will certainly open up the passing opportunities.
Bortles has thrown 135 passes and completed 74 for 827 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. His completion percentage is 54.8 through five games. Pro Football Focus Edge (PFF) gives Bortles a grade of 73.1 after five games. He is the 18th rated NFL quarterback and is considered average. After his very good game in London, PFF graded Bortles’ performance at 78.
Next: NFL QB Power Rankings 2017: Week 6
Football Outsiders (FO) gives Bortles a quarterback rating of 43.8 which ranks him at 24th. As far as his running ratings, he is a top six quarterback in all three FO categories. Wonder why he never gets to run the ball on first-and-goal at the 1-yard line?
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