George Díaz: Bortles, Winston prep for questions at QB.
Fates of Bucs, Jaguars rest largely on Winston, Bortles
JACKSONVILLE — Much like Yelp, Twitter player hashtags give you a Taste of the NFL.
Early reviews on #BlakeBortles leaves one with a bitter aftertaste, and a sense that Bortles is a ratinfested diner in need of shuttering.
“I think it is time to put a fork in #blakebortles. ““He gotta go .... #blakebortles.” “What y'all think of Blaine Gabbert. I mean #blakebortles tonight?
“Man #blakebortles playing like trash.”
The customer is always write, even when they are wrong, but there is a disconcerting rumble in cyberspace, given the struggles that Bortles had last season as the starting quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Bortles, the former UCF star,
completed eight of 13 passes for only 65 yards in a firsthalf stint against the Tampa Bay Bucs Thursday night. To compare and contrast, Bucs counterpart Jameis Winston was crisp and efficient, completing 21 of 29 passes for 196 yards in Tampa Bay’s 12-8 win.
Exhibition games can be classified as meaningless scrums, except when they’re not. Two games into the exhibition season, Winston is President of the Glee Club and Prom King. Bortles is the guy wearing “Hello my name is” sticker, hoping he fits in.
Welcome to a tale of two cities, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. The Charles Dickens classic has been usurped by Adam Schefter, Jon Gruden, Kurt Warner, and every other NFL talking head in our cluttered cyberspace universe.
Speaking of, Gruden compared Bortles to a golfer who has lost his swing during the ESPN telecast of the game Thursday night.
And at the risk of a 15-yard piling on penalty, Bortles was also ripped by one of his receivers, Allen Robinson, who reportedly blasted Bortles with an expletive during practice earlier this week because Bortles couldn’t throw a ball to him that was in-bounds.
On the flip side, everybody seems to be on Team Jameis in Tampa. He is in the Cool Kids corner, every step and smile documented by the ubiquitous “Hard Knocks” cameras.
Bortles’ steps in Jacksonville are measured carefully, inspected for proper form and footwork, a product of his struggles in 2016.
Bortles made the most memorable play, keeping his feet on the ground while in the arms of Bucs star defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. He managed to flip the ball to T.J. Yeldon for the most impressive two-year gain you will ever see.
Winston looked good in the most impressive incompletion you will ever see, as DeSean Jackson dropped a deep throw that would have been a score.
But Winston will be good. Very good. Bortles? Yikes?
He may never engage with the Twitter trolls who ripped him, but he had to hear the smattering of boos at times when he missed his targets.
Winston and Bortles are the fancy Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Winston is humming along. Bortles needs a tune-up. What happens in September and October will set the tone for what happens in November and December, and any playoff push.
For now, it’s mostly practice, practice, practice, including two days of joint practices Monday and Tuesday.
“I feel good,” Bortles said earlier this week. “There’s definitely things to improve on, things to be better at. I feel comfortable with the system and the scheme and everything that we’re doing, it’s just continuing to run these reps. As an offense, I think one thing that is overlooked is it’s the first year in the system, so I think that’s something.”
The “new” offense comes with an asterisk. Nathaniel Hackett is the offensive coordinator, but he actually started the gig last October when he replaced Greg Olson, who was fired.
Bortles has yet to be fired. But he won’t be able to weather much more of those sourpuss reviews before first-year coach Dough Marrone is forced to make a difficult decision.
Something stinks in Jacksonville. It’s up to Bortles to fix it.