Quote:3) Gus Bradley's not the biggest problem for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

 

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While Jeff Fisher hovers around .500 on an annual basis, that's wishful thinking for Gus Bradley, who's now 14-44 in his three-plus years in Jacksonville. So, yes, to address the obvious: Bradley will soon be the ex-coach of the Jaguars, a 2-8 group that has miserably underachieved after an offseason full of hype and hope.

But don't think for a second that a coaching change will cure all of the ills in Jacksonville. This franchise has a deeper issue that might not be so easy to fix -- a problem at the most important position in the game today.

Blake Bortles is terrible at football. His mechanics are out of whack -- like his confidence level. Every week, he makes mind-numbing decisions and serves up awful-looking picks. His passer rating (80.0) and yards per attempt (6.3) are both down from last season's figures (88.2, 7.3), while his interceptions (an NFL-high 13) are up.

So here's the big-picture question that must be considered: Who would be brave enough to hitch his wagon to Bortles? Which coaching candidate, while getting a talented overall roster put together by widely respected general manager Dave Caldwell, would take a chance on the underwhelming, underachieving Bortles? Josh McDaniels won't do it. Neither will David Shaw. Tom Coughlin? Mike Shanahan? Which up-and-coming coordinator would jump at this opportunity?

Bortles, who was the No. 3 overall pick just three years ago, makes a bad situation in Jacksonville worse.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...ful-truths

 

I agree

 

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I liken Bortles to Matt Stafford in that Stafford does not have perfect mechanics. Stafford had a big comeback year in 2011, then he fell off a cliff in a manner of speaking and his accuracy fell under 60 pct, his INT count went up, and in general his mechanics went a bit wayward. Essentially the Lions became very pass heavy and tried to put everything on Stafford's back. By the end of the 2013 season, Stafford's career was trending downwards. He was seen as a prolific passer but error prone with questionable mechanics. But that has since changed since Jim Caldwell became their head coach. Since then Stafford has been trending upwards and has gotten better each season under Caldwell. Last season he hit a career high in PCT at 67.2, he had his second best TD count (32) and threw only 13 INTs, and attempted only 592 passes which was the lowest since his rookie year (I'm discount his 3 game 2010 season). This season he's still completing around the same PCT at 67.8, he's thrown for 18 TDs to 5 INTs, and his QB rating is above a hundred for the first time. 

 

So in the past three seasons (this one being the third), Matt Stafford has changed and become a better quarterback than the one Jim Caldwell inherited. If Jim Caldwell and his staff can do that for Matt Stafford, then why can't the "right" head coach and the "right" coaching staff do the same for Bortles? 

 

At the end of the day we are asking Bortles to do too much, like the Lions were doing before Caldwell took over. If we take some of that pressure off Bortles' back by getting a strong running game, and then scheme offensively to Bortles' strengths, while obviously trying to work on his mechanics and get him as confident in them as he can be, then potentially he is fixable. He is unlikely to ever be in the Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers category, but if he can put up similar numbers and produce like Matt Stafford has done these past three seasons under Jim Caldwell, then we will have a good quarterback to lead our team. 

 

So I don't see candidates being put off by Bortles. If the difference between getting our ideal candidate is showing Bortles the door, then that ideal candidate needs to have a sure fire franchise quarterback lined up ready to succeed Bortles, if not, then we should look elsewhere and find someone else because Bortles is the least of our problems if the right head coach gets a hold of him next season. 

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