LIGHTNING IN A BORTLES
Erratic Jags QB key to playoff clash with Bills
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — You don’t have to search much for compelling storylines involving Sunday’s AFC wild-card game between the Jaguars and Bills at EverBank Field.
Start with the respective postseason droughts.
The 9-7 Bills are playing their first playoff game since 1999, ending the longest playoff drought in the NFL (17 years) by winning three of their final four regularseason games.
The 10-6 Jaguars, who won 17 games in the previous five seasons, are playing their first postseason game since 2007 and are hosting their first playoff game since 1999.
Add to that Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone who coached the Bills in 2013-’14 and led them to their first winning record in a decade before opting out of his contract, with ownership and management uncertainty leaving him uncomfortable with the direction of the franchise.ranchise.
Marrone, despite rebuilding a terrible team in Buffalo, is not a where favorite Bills son fans in We Western would New delight York, in defeating him Sunday.nd
Marrone did whwhat he could to deflect the narrativetiv of his tenure in Buffalo.
Then there is TTom Coughlin. The head coachh of the Giants for 12 years, beforeore being unceremoniously firedd aftera the 2015 season, is the Jaguars’ua team president and has beenen praised for his contribution to thehe new culture in Jacksonville by MarMarrone and team owner Shad Khan.n.
None of these storylines,st however, will have moreore to do with the game than how Jaguarsag lightningrod quarterback Blake Bortles performs Sunday.
Bortles’ struggleses in his first three seasons in Jacksonvillenv have turned him into a nationalnal punching bag of sorts, the subjectec of a mocking Twitter account wiwith the handle @BortlesFacts.
Ask anyone involvednv in this game — Marrone,arr the Bills, Jaguars or BilBills fans — and they’ll tellell you that how Bortleslese plays will dictate how this game goes.
There might not be a more maligned player in the NFL than Bortles. Even when he plays well, he gets ripped.
After the Jaguars beat the Seahawks last month, Seattle safety Earl Thomas called Bortles “a subpar quarterback.’’
After the Jaguars beat the Texans, 45-7, last month (Jacksonville’ s second win over Houston this season), Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney called Bortles “trash.’’
Before the Jags played the Titans in the regular-season finale last week, in a radio interview, Titans defensive tackle Jurrell Casey said, “As long as Blake Bortles is back there, if the ballgame is in his hands, he’s going to choke.”
Not a lot of respect for the third- three seasons and throw 51 interceptions along the way.
Bortles has been a feast-orfamine quarterback for most of his career. For example, he threw 35 touchdown passes to 18 interceptions in 2015, but the Jags still went 5-11.
This season, under the coaching of Marrone, he’s played much more within himself, throwing just 21 TDs, but his 13 INTs are a careerlow — though five of those have come in the past two games.
The Jaguars, who rank No. 6 in offense and No. 5 in points scored (417), have been more reliant on rookie running back Leonard Fournette.
The Jaguars, whose strength is their defense, have much of everything in place for success. The fact is their chances of winning this game hinge almost completely on the way Bortles plays.
If he doesn’t turn the ball over, the Jaguars are almost guaranteed to advance to the AFC divisional playoff round against the Steelers, whom they defeated earlier this season in Pittsburgh.
The Jags have a plus-10 turnover differential, which is better than the Patriots, Steelers, Saints and all playoff teams. But they’re minus five in their past two games — not coincidentally both losses.
The Jaguars turned the ball over seven times in their past two games (losses at San Francisco and against Tennessee), including those five INTs by Bortles. Jags receivers Keelan Cole and Jaydon Mickens also lost fumbles.
“At the end of the day, we don’t win the turnover battle and we’re not able to make any plays, it’s very difficult to win,” Marrone said.
“If you can go out there and not give up any turnovers, take away the ball, I think you have a pretty good chance of winning the game,” Jaguars linebacker Malik Jackson said. “That’ll be our plan: Have the offense keep the ball. Defense, we’re going to try to continue to work that ball out and be that dominant defense.”