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In the midst of the Jacksonville Jaguars playoff hunt in the 2015 NFL season, the pace that Blake Bortles is on this season has been pushed back to the side view just a bit. The Jaguars second year quarterback however has a chance to have the best statistical season by a Jaguars quarterback, ever. With six games left to go in the season, it seems inevitable that Bortles shatters the touchdown passing record and comes close to nipping the passing yardage record.
With 20 touchdown passes on the year, Bortles is tied for the second-most touchdown passes by a Jaguars quarterback in a single-season, notched up with the 2000 Mark Brunell season. Only David Garrard’s 2010 season is ahead of him, which is 23 touchdowns in 14 games. It’s possible Bortles ties that record this weekend against the San Diego Chargers, as he’s averaging two touchdown passes per game this season. It’s more likely it’s broken the next week on the road against the Tennessee Titans, but he’s still on pace for over 30 touchdowns on the year, which will leave him high above anyone else who’s put on a Jaguars uniform.
It’s still crazy to me the Jaguars have only had a quarterback throw for 20+ touchdowns four times, ever, and one of those is 24-year old Blake Bortles.
As for single-season passing yardage, Bortles 2015 season so far places him 14th all-time for the Jaguars in a single season, needing just over 1,700 more passing yards to break the single-season record of 4,367, which was set by Mark Brunell in 1996. How fitting would that be? Surprisingly, Bortles rookie season had him 10th all-time in passing yardage for a single-season.
Career-wise, Bortles is already fifth all-time in passing yardage and fourth all-time in touchdowns. He needs just about 280 yards to pass Chad Henne as fourth all-time in the yardage department and 20 more touchdowns to pass Byron Leftwich to become third all-time in passing touchdowns.
The crazy thing about all of this, is that Bortles is still growing and learning as an NFL passer. It shouldn’t be shocking though, if at the end of the season Bortles holds both the single-season yardage and passing touchdown records.