On Bortles:

There were at least three Bortles passes that were unnecessarily "high" but still catchable as I recall.  Not concerned about it as it should be correctable.

 

Had Harbor, Hurns and others not dropped catchable passes, it would have been a stellar outing from Bortles, IMO. I was encouraged by his play despite the questionable short dump off to Thomas and a few balls with a bit too much air under them. 

 

The pocket presence we were cautiously optimistic about was confirmed to be real last night, IMO.  Love seeing him evade a rusher with minimal movement forward in the pocket. Very encouraging. 

 

On RBs: 

Denard continues to earn my respect and praise. He'll be valuable to this team.  Gerhart played well. He's no speedster but he knows how to hit a hole and follow a block. The execution on screens last night was worlds better than last season. Credit to Olson and Marrone there. Gerhart performed well in that role as he did in Minnesota. Was nice to finally see that from him in Jax. Pierce appeared capable but I had to stop watching just before halftime to do some work and didn't see the other backs. 

 

Joeckel:

Very, very discouraged by the sack he gave up and a bit concerned, but I'll have to reserve any major critique until I re-watch the game.  

 

Defense: I just hope the first team D-Line can get the pressure we expect from them because the twos weren't getting it done. 

 

The secondary was looking a bit better than what we saw last year.  House's big gaff did appear to involve him falling down to get beat - but it may have been due to his own mistake. Looked like he got tangled playing press and was just overpowered by the receiver and fell. That DB film room won't be a fun place for the highest paid corner in the room this week. 

 

LBs were mostly solid but Telvin did have a whiff or two and I'd like to see more from Skuta as preseason moves forward. 

 

OVERALL:  I think this is a better offense and we'll see better numbers from them this year. Passing, running and scoring. 

The defense is tough to call at the moment but should be better if the ones can get healthy and stay on the field. 

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