Jags tap Bortles as starting quarterback heading into season
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. » The Jacksonville Jaguars are sticking with Blake Bortles — because of his legs.
Coach Doug Marrone selected Bortles as his starting quarterback for the season opener Saturday, a surprising turnabout that said more about the team’s offensive line than its signal callers.
Marrone’s decision came a little more than a week after he opened up the job and pleaded with Bortles and veteran Chad Henne to “go out there and take it.”
Marrone said he “had enough information” to stay with Bortles. The third overall pick in the 2014 draft will make his 46th consecutive start when the Jaguars open Sept. 10 at Houston.
Going back to Bortles was a clear indictment of the team’s shaky offensive line, which has been underwhelming in three preseason games. The Jaguars are planning to start rookie Cam Robinson at left tackle and are undecided at left guard. The right side is far from rock solid, too.
“Blake has the ability to extend plays for us, which I think is going to be helpful in what we have to get done,” Marrone said.
Henne started Thursday’s exhibition game against the Panthers and had some decent moments, but the 10th-year pro also got sacked three times in the first half.
Bortles delivered his best outing of the preseason, finishing with a touchdown and an interception while keeping several plays alive with his legs.
“You only have a certain amount of time and then it’s time to go,” Bortles said. “I think it’s built into every single play, ‘This is how much time you have,’ and then you have to take off and either get into a scramble drill-type thing or take off and run.”
Bortles looked like a franchise quarterback in his second season, throwing for 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns and smashing several team records. Although he racked up a chunk of his statistics late in lopsided games, there was belief that Bortles would only get better.
Instead, he regressed in 2016. He arrived at training camp hoping to turn his career around, but raised eyebrows with a string of interceptions in practice and missed throws in preseason games.
Marrone decided to sit him down, albeit for a little more than a week.
“You can sit there and say, ‘Well, it’s happened once already, it could happen again,’ and worry about that and kind of let that consume your thoughts,” Bortles said. “Or you can say, ‘I’ve had to go through this once and there’s no way I’m going to ever let them do it to me again.
“I’m going to go play as hard as I can. I’m going to do everything I can to help this team win and play as hard as I possibly can so I don’t have to go through that again.”