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The Jacksonville Jaguars are struggling on offense, in large part because of the play of quarterback Blake Bortles. Bortles was coming off a nice season in 2015, but it has been a complete disaster so far in the 2016 season, with virtually all of his good stats coming in garbage time, a contrast from last year. It’s not just that Bortles is playing poorly, it’s that he’s completely missing guys who are open and looks completely lost on the field, like he’s never played quarterback before. Recently Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley stated that he sat down and watched some other quarterbacks in the NFL.
“We went back, Dave (Caldwell) and I were just watching in his office on some throws that were made around the league,” Bradley told reporters on Monday when asked about Bortles struggles. “Let’s just look at the misses and see what’s taking place and you see it. A lot of quarterbacks are doing it across the league.”
So, other quarterbacks in the NFL also make poor throws. Okay…?
“I think it’s to try to create a picture to see where we’re at with him. I think he is. I think he’s doing some really good things,” Bradley continued. “I think when you see it in practice, just like with Dante, we’re seeing some of the things we wanted corrected in practice and you’re seeing it carry into practice and then also in the games. Okay, keep going, we’re trying to speed it up where we see it more consistently. You go back, and it’s a head scratcher, because you do see some great throws and some great decision-making. Other ones, just got away from him.”
I think classifying it as some passes “just got away from him” is a gross mischaracterization of the situation. It’s bad. He’s missing these throws now on a consistent basis. Pointing out that other quarterbacks around the league miss throws is like when my five-year-old tells me that her two-year-old brother also drew on the wall with a crayon. It’s irrelevant and doesn’t justify it.
If the Jaguars are doing self-evaluation and they came away with “well other quarterbacks miss throws, too” then well… man, I don’t know. What? What an asinine perspective.