Bortles, Jaguars silence Bengals

JACKSONVILLE >> Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone heard about Vontaze Burfict’s comments earlier in the week and went straight to quarterback Blake Bortles.

Marrone wanted to make sure Bortles didn’t press.

“Hey listen, don’t get crazy. Just go out and play the game,” Marrone said, recalling the conversation. “You owe it to all your teammates. We’ve all got to play this game together as a team. I thought he did a good job of that.”

Bortles threw for 259 yards and a touchdown in a 23-7 victory against Burfict and the Cincinnati Bengals (3-5) on Sunday. Bortles didn’t have a turnover and didn’t get sacked — just the fourth time he’s done that in 53 career starts.

Burfict made headlines during the week by saying, “I’m not sure Blake can beat us. We want to put it in his hands and have him beat us, if he can.”

Bortles responded on the field, helping the Jaguars (5-3) win consecutive games for the first time in 13 months and win at EverBank Field for the first time since last December.

“I think Cincinnati has a bit of a reputation for the type of guys they are and I think you saw a little bit of that today,” Bortles said. “I thought we did a good job playing as hard as we possibly can between the whistles and beating the crap out of them.”

The Bengals were worse offensively against Jacksonville than they were in the first two games of the season, a stretch that got offensive coordinator Ken Zampese fired.

They finished with a season-low 148 yards. It was the team’s worst output since a 27-0 drubbing at Indianapolis in 2014 in which Cincy managed 135 yards. The Bengals might not have reached the end zone Sunday had it not been for a 59-yard pass play from Andy Dalton to Tyler Kroft during which two defenders fell trying to make the tackle. Rookie Joe Mixon scored two plays later.

Jacksonville dominated from there, controlling the ball for more than 40 minutes in a game that could have been more lopsided.

“Obviously we’re not executing at the level that we want to,” Dalton said. “We need to play better.”