Keelan Cole on Blake Bortles’ 41-yard run: ‘I see he got tired. I called him fat for it.’

Late in the third quarter yesterday, the Jacksonville Jaguars were backed up against their own end zone. Leonard Fournette had been out of the game and the rest of the offense was feeling it — with T.J. Yeldon filling in fine and Blake Bortles struggling to get into a rhythm with his receivers.

It was second-and-10 and if there wasn’t some sort of movement forward, the Jaguars would face a long third down.

The Jaguars opted for Bortles to run the ball — with a play action to Yeldon who got several Giants defenders to bite hard on the fake and allowed Bortles to run untouched for 41 yards. It was the longest of his career and lowkey a very big play for the Jaguars. Without it, the team is likely punting from its own end zone and giving the Giants great field position.

Asked after the game if he could have gone all the way since he had the lead on the Giants defense, Bortles didn’t mince words.

“No, not once. This isn’t high school. There was no way. I got 30 yards, then the hamstrings locked up and it was time to get out of bounds.”

And his teammates certainly gave him hell for not being able to turn on the jets and get the 92-yard touchdown.

“I was running behind him hoping he [would score],” wide receiver Keelan Cole said, according to Jacksonville.com. “I see he got tired. I called him fat for it. No I’m just kidding. I for sure thought he would [score]. How far did he get? 41? I’ll take it.”

Bortles finished the game with 42 rushing yards on four rushes.