Quote:Because playing QB is significantly easier in practice when nobody is hitting you than in a real game. What does that prove other than Gabbert sucks? Gabbert's biggest problem was not dealing with pressure, I'm not sure a year or even 10 years of practicing without dealing with real pressure is going to help that.

 

You've still not indicated what bad habits these could be? If his mechanics or decision making or footwork are going to get worse and he is going to develop new bad habits from simply doing what he's been doing his whole life albeit at a higher level, we drafted the wrong guy. If he is going to get gun shy after throwing a few picks, having a bad game or suffering a losing streak, we drafted the wrong guy. No amount of prep will fix it if he is going to regress the moment the bullets are live.

 

This is Bortles' team now and at some point he is going to have to deal with adversity. We can't protect him from failure forever.

 

Sorry, I'm not an NFL coach, so I'm not able to tell you precisely what bad habits could develop.

 

It's not about him throwing picks, or being gun shy.  It's about being ready for the NFL level.  As a QB, he will be learning on the go.  Better to learn from doing when you're ready to start, than learn when you aren't -- that's when bad habits will develop.  That's common sense.  I'm not suggesting we protect him from failure.  Once he goes out there, I hope they certainly don't handcuff him like we did with Blaine Gabbert.  

 

Practice is like a swimming pool, while games are like shark infested waters.  When you think he can carry over in practice what you want him to, into real games -- that's when you put him out there.  You don't look at him and say "Look!  He's swimming better than Henne.  Let's toss in him the shark infested waters now!"  Because he might play better than Henne in a real game even -- but it might still not be the level he's capable of.  You want him to realize his potential.  Not for him to jsut be better than Henne.  That's not good enough.

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