I made the trip down to Jacksonville, Florida this past weekend to catch the Jacksonville Jaguars game versus the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Field. The stadium underwent some major changes over the offseason, and the changes looked awesome. The largest (literally) change involved adding the world’s largest video board (sorry, Jerry World). Also, the north endzone features luxury cabanas and swimming pools for guests to enjoy the game in style.
Jaguars fans may need these new additions to be excited on Sundays because the Jaguars are still a bad football team. The Colts came into Jacksonville and whipped the Jaguars 44-17 on Sunday. Colts QB Andrew Luck looked like he was playing Madden 25 on the Rookie difficulty level throughout the 1st half. I’ll detail more on Luck later in the article. The Jaguars offense was non-existent in the 1st half. Offensive linemen continued to get beat on running and passing plays and QB Chad Henne still looked lost. Henne was more lost than TV viewers who jump into J.J. Abrams Lost in Season 7 on Netflix (Note: Start Lost from the beginning!). I, as well as the majority of Jaguars fans booed the offense after each unsucessful drive in the 1st half. During the 2nd quarter, Jaguars fans got a “We want Bortles!” chant going.
After the dust settled in the 1st half, the Cotls led 30-0. However, out of the ashes rose the phoenix that could save the Jacksonville Jaguars season: BLAKE BORTLES! I agreed with the Jaguars braintrust to sit Bortles for the first few games; however, I correctly added that if the Jaguars were struggling in Week 3, Bortles should play. In this article, I’ll discuss the Colts dominance of the 1st half, Bortles play in the 2nd half, and how Jaguars fans should really feel after three weeks.
Luck’s Troops Dominate
Andrew Luck led the Colts up and down the field in the 1st half on Sunday. He finished the game 31-39 for 370 yards with 4 TD’s and 0 INT’s (Hello, 31 fantasy points). The Colts scored on all six of their first half drives. Let me repeat that: The Jaguars did not force a turnover or a punt on all six of the Colts’ drives in the 1st half! TE Coby Fleener dropped a WIDE-OPEN TD pass (much to the chagrin of the Colts fans sitting around me) that would have made the score look even more lopsided. WR T.Y. Hilton led the Colts with 5 catches for 80 yards (remember last Friday’s fantasy sleeper?). All-in-all the Colts racked up 330 yards of offense in the 1st half and showed the world that their 0-2 start was a fluke. I expect the Colts to win the AFC South again this season, and they will make some noise in the playoffs.
Bortles to the rescue? Not quite…
Blake Bortles stepped out of the locker room and began his reign as the Jaguars starting QB. The 3rd overall pick from the University of Central Florida immediately showed that coach Gus Bradley made the correct decision to switch QB’s. Bortles hit WR Allen Robinson for a 21 yard completion on his 3rd career snap and looked comfortable behind center. On his 2nd drive, Bortles showed his quick feet and good decision making: two skills that vaulted him to the top of the Jaguars draft board. On 2nd down and 7, Bortles did a play-action fake and began to roll out left. He was immediately met by a Colts defender, yet he was able to reverse his field, keep his eyes downfield, and hit FB Will Ta’ufo’ou for a 26 yard gain. Later that drive, Borltes took it himself on a read-option and picked up 20 yards on the ground.
Bortles helped the Jaguars score 17 points in the 2nd half, which is a positive sign. Bortles seemed to have good chemisty with fellow rookie WR’s Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns. Hurns broke multiple tackles and took a Bortles pass 63 yards to the endzone for Bortles first career TD pass. However, the Colts were playing a very passive defensive scheme and rotating in less experienced players during this time. Either way, Bortles finished the game 14/24 for 223 yards with 2 TD’s and 2 INT’s. One of those INT’s was returned 47 yards to the house by Colts DB Greg Toler, though. Jaguars fans should not be disappointed with something such as a “Pick 6” late in a blowout game. The game was already decided and he can learn from experiences like that. Bortles was unable to lead a Herculean-like comeback and quite honestly looked like a rookie QB in his first action. That being said, the cheers from the fans and the positive energy that Bortles infused into the team cannot be overlooked.
The Jaguars: Looking forward
Jaguars fans are probably not overly upset with the result from yesterday. Look, I understand that Jacksonville should try to win every game they play. Ask former head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards and he’ll tell you, “You play to win the game!” However, this game saw a changing of the guard at QB, and hopefully this change will provide a spark to a Jaguars offense that has looked absolutely terrible. The defense, though, has got to step up their game too. It doesn’t matter if Blake Bortles plays like an All-Pro, if the defense continues to get exposed. The Jaguars defense has given up 39.7 points per game this season! I don’t care what the advanced stats may say: the Jaguars have the worst defense in the NFL through three weeks.
The Jaguars got blown out on Sunday. There is no other way to describe it. As a person who believes in always finding the positives, though, I believe that Blake Bortles will be a good (great?) QB in a few years. He is a Florida native and looks like he was born to be a Jaguars QB. The team must get better play from all three aspects of the game this upcoming Sunday at San Diego to have a chance to get their first win. Either way, tune in to watch Blake Bortles get his first career start.
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