Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles has been absolutely brutal in preseason and training camp, with throws so bad that top receiver Allen Robinson yelled at him to “fucking keep that shit in bounds, bro!”
Bortles’ numbers in Thursday’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren’t terrible. He finished 8-of-13 for 65 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. But of those five misses, a few were embarrassing.
Bortles took Robinson’s advice and kept the ball in bounds. The problem was he overcompensated just a bit too much.
One drive later, Robinson got wide open again, but Bortles underthrew his target once more (and also did a play-action handoff to nobody).
In January, Jaguars general manager David Caldwell said he thinks the Jaguars can win a Super Bowl with Bortles. But hopefully you now understand why The Comeback’s Brad Gagnon ranked Bortles the third-worst starting QB in the NFL this season and the Jaguars the sixth-worst team.
Nothing can absolve an NFL starting quarterback from throws like that. But there’s no guarantee Robinson would have caught an accurate pass. When Chad Henne took over at quarterback later in the second quarter, A-Rob dropped a touchdown catch.
That may have been in traffic, but if the ball hits you in the hands you’ve got to catch it.
[ESPN]
