Quote:As annoying as SCJ is, I want him to be right so badly. Yesterday was maybe Blake's worst performance. I don't know if he's played that bad even as a rookie. What's happened to him? Coaching stinks I get that, but the issues he's having aren't on play calls or whatever. He's got major problems and it's not just 1 thing. Last year he was throwing multiple touchdown games on the regular and it wasn't just garbage time. WHAT HAPPENED?!
Nothing happened to him, he is who he is (and always was). Last year was fluky and lots of garbage time, and I said it when I saw it then, though REALLY wanted to be wrong. He was not a good thrower of the football to start with, and still isn't, and his football IQ is questionable at best (arguably horrible). The below is 100% accurate and courtesy of ESPN this morning (mid-season grading of their preseason predictions).
<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/16724/blake-bortles' title="External link">Blake Bortles</a> will not live up to the hype
Piling up touchdowns and yardage in less-meaningful situations allowed Bortles to produce inflated conventional stats last season. His 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns supported a feel-good storyline: rising young QB lifts long-suffering franchise over the hump. Bortles has piled up a league-high 40 percent of his career passing yards while trailing by at least 10 points. Those are tough situations for any quarterback, and some were of his own making. Bortles' 3.3 percent interception rate since entering the league ranks 32nd out of 33 quarterbacks with at least 500 pass attempts since then. The rate is 2.3 percent (25th) when his team is tied or leading. The 42 coaches and evaluators polled for my <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/17235940/2016-nfl-qb-tier-rankings-new-england-patriots-tom-brady-green-bay-packers-aaron-rodgers-pittsburgh-steelers-ben-roethlisberger' title="External link">annual QB Tiers project</a> weren't entirely sold. Some questioned Bortles' mechanics. Several simply thought the Jaguars already would have enjoyed more team success if Bortles were playing as well as the stats suggested. "Everybody wants to anoint him," one general manager said before the season. "I don't see it. He is 1-13 on the road. How's that for a stat?" A closer look at advanced stats showed Bortles ranking 29th out of 29 qualifying quarterbacks in Total QBR over the second half of last season. He ranks 27th this season, ahead of only <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/14879/brock-osweiler' title="External link">Brock Osweiler</a>, <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/14876/ryan-tannehill' title="External link">Ryan Tannehill</a>, <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/8664/ryan-fitzpatrick' title="External link">Ryan Fitzpatrick</a> and <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/15168/case-keenum' title="External link">Case Keenum</a>.
