Quote:The emotion of being a fan is on full display with some in this thread.  Making decisions in such an emotional state doesn't usually translate to the best course of action.  I've seen some ridiculous theories such as Caldwell is forcing Bradley to play Henne because of a promise that he made.  It wouldn't surprise me if those advancing such notions also believe 9/11 was an inside job and mankind has never been to the moon.

 

The only believable reason why Bortles isn't playing is that he is not ready and that Henne must have a better grasp of the entire offense.  To believe anything else is... well, to believe in conspiracy theories.  Just because Bortles showed well in the preseason does not indicate he has a grasp of the playbook that the coaching staff is comfortable trotting out there just yet.  With the amount of time many posters have been on these forums, you'd think they'd have enough experience watching preseason football to know better than to rush to judgement based on what they saw in August.  

 

We all want to see Bortles in there and want to see him succeed.  It's the making sure he can succeed part that the coaching staff is trying to get right.  You don't want a situation where he goes in before being ready and it becomes obvious to any casual observer that he's not.  Then the coaching staff's ability and decision making gets seriously called into question by more than just the overly emotional message board hand wringers.

 

When he does go in and hopefully does well, I'm sure we'll get the "see I told you so" self-patting on the back from those demanding he start yesterday which will have no basis in fact, but they'll say it anyway.  Meanwhile, the coaching staff will have known all along when he was ready to run the offense as they want it run.

 

It's definitely football season on the Jaguars message board.