Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles methodically dismantled Jets

Blake Bortles led the Jacksonville Jaguars to a dominant 31-12 victory over the New York Jets in Week 4.

The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the New York Jets in a dominant performance on Sunday in Week 4. Jacksonville’s defense smothered the Jets offense throughout the game, but that wasn’t all that they were able to do. Blake Bortles systematically dismantled the Jets defense with a 31-12 victory.

After a disappointing performance last week, Jacksonville was determined to play better. The Jaguars wanted to finish with a record 3-1 after Week 4. Bortles played exceptionally well in trying to do that. He moved into the second spot on the Jaguars franchise career passing list. Currently, he has thrown for 16,023 yards in his career. Bortles needs 9,676 yards to surpass Mark Brunell as the career leader.

Bortles completed 29-of-38 passes for 388 yards. He threw two touchdown passes. Most of all, he hit Donte Moncrief for a 67-yard touchdown pass. Bortles effectively spread the ball around to several receivers as 10 different players caught a pass. Dede Westbrook and Moncrief combined for 14 receptions and 239 receiving yards.

Jacksonville was able to dissect the Jets defense without Leonard Fournette for most of the game. Fournette started the game, but missed significant time due to tweaking his hamstring again. T.J. Yeldon filled in admirable as a runner and receiver.

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The Jaguars defense continued its play on an elite level. Yannick Ngakoue recorded his first sack of the season. Jacksonville sacked Sam Darnold three times as a whole. In a dominant performance, the Jaguars defense gave up just 178 total yards to New York. Jacksonville held the Jets to just 34 yards on 14 carries in the run game. Malik Jackson and Barry Church sacked Darnold once each. Marcel Dareus also recorded the safety for the Jaguars defense.

Josh Lambo continued his consistency by kicking three field goals out of three attempts. He kick field goals of 32 and 22 yards to put Jacksonville out to a 6-0 lead. He nailed a 54-yarder to extend Jacksonville’s lead to 16-0 at the half.

New York could never close the scoring gap until cashing in on a Jaguars turnover. A Jets touchdown made the score 25-12 in the fourth quarter. Yeldon scored to make the final 31-12 after a missed two-point conversion.

Jacksonville played very impressively but not perfectly. They committed nine penalties for 89 yards. The Jaguars offense turned the ball over three times. Expect Doug Marrone to address those areas in practice.

Jacksonville plays their next two games on the road in Kansas City and in Dallas. The Houston Texans are in town before heading to London and then the bye week. Hopefully the Jaguars can finish with a 3-1 record after the next four games as well.