(04-07-2018, 11:10 AM)Andy G Wrote:

(04-07-2018, 08:43 AM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote: I think he has some natural running ability, but I think he is told to avoid long throws, because the coaching staff doesn't trust him. I believe they tell him, when in doubt, run and when you know you aren't trusted by the coaching staff to do certain things, you can lose confidence in yourself. This in turn, makes him run more. He never ran so much in the first couple of years in the NFL or in college, but the more criticism he got, the more he started to run.

I can understand why you might believe that.

But it’s not true.

In each of his four seasons with the Jaguars, Bortles has run roughly the same number of times.

(Pretty close to an average of 3.6 attempts per game every season)

2014 - 56 (in 14 games)
2015 - 52 in 16
2016 -58 in 16
2017 - 57 in 16

The average for 2017 goes up a bit in the playoffs - but that’s distorted massively by the ONE game against the Bills.

It’s true he’s throwing it less. And that’s almost certainly a game plan.

But he’s not choosing to run with the ball more.

He ran the ball more in the playoffs, because the coaches didn't want to lose the game by letting him throw it in key situations and having him turn the ball over. We became a running team out of necessity, because we don't have a reliable QB, who we can trust to win the ball via passing. That is why Marrone made the remark that if it were up to him, we'd run the ball on every play. No coach wants to run the ball every play. They want to be unpredictable and surprise the defense, but if you don't trust your passer, you do what you gotta do to make it work.

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