Did Jaguars ruin Bortles?
Or was it the other way around, Mike Bianchi asks.
I have a classic chicken-or-egg argument inquiry for you:
Did Blake Bortles ruin the Jacksonville Jaguars or did the Jacksonville Jaguars ruin Blake Bortles?
In the wake of Bortles — the former Oviedo High and UCF star — getting unceremoniously benched in favor of Cody Kessler for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, this seems like the perfect time to ask this question.
From all indications, Bortles is done as the starting quarterback of the Jaguars. This is the first time he has not started since he took over as the first-team quarterback during his rookie season five years and 72 games ago. There’s no doubt, he has been a major disappointment since being drafted third overall in 2014.
The Jaguars have been, without question, the most disappointing team in the league this season. Just a blown call away from beating the dynastic New England Patriots in the AFC
Championship Game and going to the Super Bowl last season, the Jags are now 3-8, have lost seven straight games and are in a rapid state of free fall.
Head coach Doug Marrone, whose job should also be in jeopardy, fired offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and benched Bortles on the same day earlier this week. Not only that, but Marrone made it clear Bortles will not be back in the starting lineup this year and Kessler will be given the final five games of the season to see what he can do.
Bortles, as you might expect, handled the demotion with grace and class and took the blame for what has happened to the Jaguars.
“I put myself in this position and I didn't play good enough,” Bortles said. “Didn't win football games. Couldn't find a way to get it done. And when that happens, it's a business and everybody understands that. I don't think there's anything personal involved. As a quarterback, I think you have one job and that's to win a football game. And if you don't do that, your time's probably limited.”
Kudos to Bortles for owning his shortcomings and taking accountability for what’s happened to the Jaguars. Too bad some of his teammates don’t do the same.
There’s no question that Bortles deserves much of the criticism for the Jaguars’ return to irrelevance this season. And, believe me, I get the fact that he’s been maddeningly inconsistent during his five seasons in Jacksonville. He’s 24-48 as a starter, he’s not an accurate passer and he’s been a turnover machine throughout his career with 74 interceptions and 19 lost fumbles in the 73 games he’s played.
Still, I blame the Jaguars for Bortles becoming the train wreck he has become. This is what happens when you draft a young quarterback into a bad organization. If no-nonsense Tom Coughlin had been in charge of the Jags when Bortles was drafted, I firmly believe Blake would be a winning quarterback today.
Instead, Bortles was drafted by the previous Jaguars regime and played for one of the worst organizations in football. He’s been beaten up and criticized for so long that his confidence appears to be shot.
Bortles has been through three different offensive coordinators — four now if you count Hackett’s firing and the promotion of Scott Milanovich — during his five years in Jacksonville. He played for Gus Bradley, who statistically is the worst head coach in NFL history. Upon his dismissal, Bradley was 14-48 and had the worst winning percentage (.223) of any NFL coach
who has coached at least 60 games.
In addition, Bortles’ offensive line has stunk for much of his time in Jacksonville, his receivers have been pedestrian and the running game has been sporadic. Running back Leonard Fournette was drafted in the first round last season, but he has been fragile and injury prone.
And can we talk about how disappointing the Jags’ once-dominant defense has been this season? Bortles is what he is, but the defense has totally fallen apart this season.
Also, let’s not forget that Bortles has been saddled with a bunch of knuckleheads — on and off the field. And, for this, I blame Coughlin and Marrone. This year’s team is clearly undisciplined and badly coached.
You’ve got former FSU star Jalen Ramsey cussing out the media before the season and spewing classless garbage about Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen being “trash.” Allen, of course, beat the Jaguars on Sunday, prompting NFL fans throughout the nation to gleefully exclaim, “How did that taste, Jalen!?”
Then there were the four Jaguars players who were arrested at 4 a.m. in a London burlesque bar after allegedly trying to skip out on a $64,000 bar tab.
And what about Fournette running across the field, throwing punches at Buffalo Bills defensive end
Shaq Lawson and getting ejected from last Sunday’s game and suspended from this Sunday’s game?
What in the hell is going on up there, Tom Coughlin?
What in the hell is going on up there, Doug Marrone?
Is it really Blake Bortles’ fault that he was drafted by an organization that has had one winning season in the last 11 years? And couldn’t it very well be that the Jaguars of last season were merely a fluke — the most profound one-hit wonder since “Disco Duck?”
Bortles reminds me of Don DeVoe, an interim basketball coach of the Florida Gators back in the 1980s. DeVoe took over at UF amid an ugly NCAA investigation and he inherited a team full of disciplinary problems and malcontents.
When his disastrous year as interim coach came to an end, an embittered DeVoe said, “I’m a no-nonsense coach in a nonsense program!”
Sadly, Blake Bortles can say the same.
He was a no-nonsense quarterback drafted into a nonsense organization, and he got ruined because of it.