FanPost

Yes, Blake Bortles will actually make the defense better

Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

The Jaguars defense was horrendous in its Week 3 trouncing by the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts put up 529 yards of total offense, averaging an eye-popping 7.1 yards per play. The Colts ran for 144 yards and passed for 385, and earned a first down on 27 different occasions. There were few bright spots to be found from a squad expected to perform much better after an active offseason of free agency acquisitions.

I, for one, expect a much better defensive performance next week. Some will attribute this to Gus Bradley "lighting a fire" under the defense, or to changes in scheme or personnel, or to Philip Rivers making mistakes, or to the Chargers missing RB Danny Woodhead. More than anyone, though, the Jaguars will have Blake Bortles to thank for an improved defense.

There's a tendency to look at offenses and defenses in a vacuum. To me, it's one of the easiest mistakes to make as a football fan. Offenses and defenses might be graded differently, but there's one objective measure that applies equally to both: time.

The secret to great defenses is that you hardly see them. A defense's objective is to get off the field as quickly as possible. However, considering the way modern rules favor offenses, it's only a matter of time before even the best defenses give up points. The longer you see a defense, the more points it's liable to give up.

There is an way, however, to keep defenses off the field, one that might be easy to forget based on the Jaguars' offensive production so far this year: control the ball and stay on offense.

Chad Henne's complete inability to operate the Jaguars' offense so far this season has resulted in a breathtaking number of three-and-out series. The Jaguars first first down against the Colts didn't come until the second quarter of the game was nearly over. That means the offense held the ball for only about two minutes at a time before giving Andrew Luck a new opportunity to poke holes in the Jaguars defense.

Yes, there are plenty of holes to poke. Too many. Both pass and run defense show obvious areas for concern. One way to fix this is to plug the holes, but it's just as important to limit the number of times those holes can be poked in the first place.

The Jaguars defense allowed 30 points in the first half. In the same span of time, Chad Henne only managed seven pass attempts, for a total of 33 yards. In the second half of the game, the Jaguars defense gave up just 7 points. Blake Bortles attempted 24 passes for 223 yards. These stats are directly related. Every second the Jaguars offense holds the ball is a second that their opponents won't have the opportunity to gain on the Jaguars defense.

How many points is a defense expected to deny in order to provide an NFL team a chance to win in 2014? In Week One of this season, the losing team scored an average of 17 points. Without even scoring – by simply converting a few first downs and burning time of the clock – the Colts could have been deprived of at least two scoring opportunities in the first half. Imagine if the Jaguars offense used that extra time to convert a couple field goals or a touchdown, and the spread suddenly tightens by a dozen points or more. A 44-17 blowout loss turns into something much more competitive.

The hope is that having Bortles under center will provide the Jaguars with a spark on offense. The squad doesn't need to suddenly turn into a point-manufacturing machine. It just needs to score every once in a while and keep time marching inexorably forward. Opposing offenses with less opportunities will inevitably score less. Less, too, will be expected of the defense when the offense can reliably put even a modest number of points on the board. The Jaguars defense may have plenty of room to improve, but that step forward will start on the other side of the ball.

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