There were a few on here who stated prior to the season their belief that it would take some time for all the new pieces on defense to gel.  It looks like that may be the case.  With the exception of the second half of the Green Bay game, the defense has played poorly.  That and you don't win many games when your QB throws pick 6's like Blake has frequently done in years past or turns the ball over deep in our own territory which he has done 3 times this year in 2 games (2 INTs, 1 Fumble).  Spotting the other team points is a recipe for a loss.

 

The defense clearly isn't where it needs to be yet to be able to bail Bortles out, but it may still be able to get there as the season moves along.  Bortles clearly needs to be better and clean up the horrendous plays that lead to points for the other team.  Some of us have been calling for him to clean that up, but unfortunately it's still part of his game this season so far. Not all interceptions/turnovers are equal.  Turning the ball over in an opponents field goal range is essentially spotting them points and is significantly damaging to your chances of winning.

 

Game Planning needs to be better as well as evidenced by this past game where they allowed San Diego to continually create mismatches against Poz.  That's the type of game that could get a coach fired mid-season.  Lucky for Gus it happened week 2 and I don't think firing a coach after week 2 is going to accomplish anything.  Chalk it up as a mulligan and move on to the Ravens game.  If it happens again, Gus is probably gone mid-season with Marrone or someone else on the staff getting an extended interview over the remaining games.

 

Turning the ball over deep in your own territory (multiple times) combined with a shaky young defense and a poor coaching effort even by this staff's standards and the result against the Chargers isn't all that surprising though no less frustrating.  No need to root for a loss.  As always this will take care of itself.  This past Sunday might have been Bradley's last mulligan, but he's certainly not getting a mulligan on the season as a whole.  Everyone in that building is expecting a quality product and a winning culture to start asserting itself and showing up in the win column.  If it doesn't he will be gone, I have no doubt about that.

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