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Did Gus Bradley open the door for Blake Bortles to push to start?

In an interview with Sirius XM, Gus Bradley might have hinted at the Jaguars quarterback situation being more of a competition than initially lead on.

Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars have maintained since the 2013 season ended that whatever quarterback they drafted in the NFL Draft would sit until they were "ready to play", even if that meant until 2015. Third overall pick Blake Bortles has progressively gotten better as we've gone through training camp, capping it off with a nice performance in his preseason debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which has had many people talking about him potentially earning the start sooner than later.

When Gus Bradley sat down with Sirius XM on Monday following practice, his wording was a little bit different than it was over the weekend, likely because they've had a chance to sit down and review the film.

Following Friday's 16-10 victory over the Buccaneers, Bradley pumped the brakes a little bit on Bortles game, knowing that it was going to be all that anyone wanted to talk about.

"I thought he played with good poise, good command. It’s a little bit unrealistic because there was one blitz from Tampa the whole day, one pressure,"  Bradley said on Saturday morning, following the preseason game on Friday.

"So it was all four-man rush and good protection. I think it’s what we had hoped to see from him. The poise, the command of the offense, doing what we expect him to do," Bradley said. "I think that he handled it for the first time pretty well. He showed some toughness, took a hit, made some really nice throws. His timing, accuracy, decision making. It was good."

Typically coaches will try to stay even keel immediately following a game, because there's only so much you can see from the sideline.

It's interesting that Bradley's tone changed ever so slightly a few days afterwards.