Let’s face it: the Jacksonville Jaguars are not living up to expectations this season.
They spent a lot of money to revamp the defense during the offseason, and there were huge expectations for them. Some experts even considered them as a darkhorse playoff team. But they haven’t performed and they sit at the bottom of the AFC South with a 2-6 record.
The defense does look better than last year, but it hasn’t been enough to win games. The Jaguars remain one of the worst teams in the NFL, and many believe the offense is to blame. And frankly, it’s easy to see why.
Blake Bortles has regressed after throwing 35 TD passes in 2015. Allen Robinson can’t do everything on his own. Allen Hurns is a shell of the receiver who topped 1,000+ yards last season. And the running game has been atrocious, to say the least. But much of the criticism falls on Bortles, as third-year passer has struggled mightily this year. He has 14 TD, 10 INT and 2,156 yards this season, but the problem is bigger than that.
If we take a deep look at the numbers, we’ll realize things aren’t pretty for the former UCF standout. The fact that his 59,2% completion rate in 2016 is a career-high should definitively be a cause for concern. Furthermore, his average per attempt (from 7.3 to 6.5), his TD% (5.8 to 4.2) and his QB rating (88.2 to 80.1) are all decreasing compared to 2015. By every single measure, Bortles has been a worst quarterback this year. And the Jags’ record doesn’t help either.
Sure, the numbers don’t lie. But the Jaguars shouldn’t make a QB change. It’s almost impossible to make the playoffs at this point, and any change would be just to win games that might not even help the franchise in the future. Bortles has been bad, but no one knows if Chad Henne will actually be an improvement. And Brandon Allen is clearly not ready to play yet. So even amid the struggles, Bortles remains as the best option if the Jags want to win games.
It might be painful to watch, but the Jaguars need to ride Bortles until the end of the season. There was some improvement against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he still isn’t where he needs to be. His capacity to make adjustments will determine whether he can be the franchise’s quarterback of the future, or whether Jacksonville drafts a new signal-caller in the 2017 NFL Draft.