Quote:I would not start BB until the offensive line gels and the new receivers are running the right routes. I want to give him the best chance of immediate success by eliminating the kind of distractions that come from wrong routes and bad pass blocking. I think we all bear the mental scars from the Blaine Gabbert experience. I think part of the reason for that abysmal failure was rushing him into starting without adequate support from the play of his offensive line and WRs. I, for one, am sick of seeing our QB and WR have a sideline discussion after an Int or interception.

It depends on the person. I think the bigger issue for Blaine was the flaws in his game. He played mostly out of the shotgun, in a quick, horizontal passing game. He had a very poor feel for the pocket as well, in addition to his bad footwork. Blaine had all of the physical tools, he showed it at the combine, he just didn't know how to use them. A guy like that should never have been thrown into the fire that soon.

 

Blake has a much better feel for pressure in the pocket though, and he uses his legs to move around both inside and outside of it to extend plays. That's a HUGE difference. Blaine was athletic, but how often did he use it to roll out/step up to avoid pressure? Not very often. And when he actually did do those things, it was when he felt phantom pressure. Bortles is much closer to being a finished product than Blaine was.

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