Quote:I just state the facts and hope for rational discussion. I come to other forums because I'm usually dealing with people who have contrary opinions and that forces me to greater focus on objectivity and developing my own position.


If it seems like I have an agenda against bortles it's only because his evaluation is what most posters are deluded about. They beat they're chest and stomp their feet because he had good td and yardage totals, claiming he is a top 10 qb or that he is a definite answer as a franchise qb despite the fact that he is near the bottom of the league in just about every other important metric (completion %, ypa, qb rating, etc). His success has been a huge step up from his historically bad rookie year, but he has a long way to go. His success is predicated on volume and having two great young wrs who are making a lot of plays for him. I've never knocked his potential, I actually think it's exciting the afc south has three potentially great qbs (the division has been a joke long enough). But to crown bortles at this point and write off mariota (who in his rookie year beats out bortles in just about every available metric) is stupid.

 

First, you have to truly understand what the Jaguars QB situation has been like for the better part of recent memory (read; AWFUL). Bortles' positives give us hope considering his age and set of circumstances, it's only natural for fans to feel good about what we currently have relative to what came before. Few, if any of us, discount that he doesn't still have a long way to go to being great but the signs are there that he can. As this still painfully young offense matures and keeps with the current trend of improvement, it appears as if the sky is the limit. Will they achieve that? We hope so. We have to. Because we're fans. There are three mitigating factors, as I see it, relative to Blake's stats and what you think they should be: 1) our offensive line is offensive, 2) he attempts more passes per game than he probably should be and 3) he likes to push the ball downfield. Likely, option (3) is the most damning in this case (but also the most exciting), because by definition those are lower percentage passes than check downs and screens.

 

Secondly, I've said on numerous occasions that I personally have not watched Mariota play due to tack hate. I'm more than enough to remember 1999 and for that, I will always hate the tacks. They could move to the NFC North. Still hate. Not gonna change. Having said that, I think you have ample reason to be equally as encouraged about Marcus as we are with Blake. He isn't in an ideal situation like Bridgewater nor even Carr is and he's holding his own as far as I can tell. 

 

Regardless, we agree on one fundamental thing. The AFCS is better when we are all good like in years past. Our disdain for each other as fans aside, things are infinitely more interesting when we are all competitive...at least from where I sit.

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