Quote:Let me just say that in the past 10+ years of watching our team play, I don't think any of us have ever seen a QB play on this team that has risen up and learned the game so quickly with the talent and command presence that Blake Bortles currently has. That includes not only preseason, but regular season as well. I think that Bortles will be even better than what Mark Brunell was in the 1990's, and Garrard in 07-08. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Bortles has a lot of potential to be what Big Ben was for Pittsburgh in 04, Joe Flacco for Baltimore in 08, and Russell Wilson for the Seahawks in 2012.


In other words, we've hopefully found a potential (key word "potential") championship caliber QB. And that is exactly why I don't want the team to start Bortles in 2014. Without a doubt, we all know that this team will be vastly improved compared to 2013. But there's still a lot of holes on this team that need to be fixed before we can throw him to the wolves.



People will say that Bortles isn't like Gabbert. Or rather, Gabbert is not like Bortles . But I believe that it would be unwise of the team if they started Bortles too early and did not give him more time to digest more information and be even better prepared in 2015 than he is now. Frankly, I would look at Caldwell and Bradley as being hypocrites if they started him before the 2015 regular season. But I do trust Caldwell and Bradley's wisdom enough to know, that if they say that Bortles won't be starting Week 1, than it must be for the greater good of the team and the fans.



But on the other hand, for all we know if we started Bortles now he might struggle against 1st team defenses and that would really shake his confidence. And it would be disastrous, if he suffered a major injury before that time.




Bottom line is this: Some of you might not agree with what I say, but I would gladly take another 6-10 or 7-9 losing season with Henne at the helm. If it meant that the Jags would be in the playoffs and competing for a championship in 2015. I'm going to stick to my heart and conscience on this issue, and I hope that Gus and Caldwell do too. And I think that by now we are a matured, and disciplined enough fanbase to accept this.