You guys could be right. If near the end of the season we're like 2/10 or 12, and we start him I could see it going one of two ways... We suck and it completely crushes his spirit ala Gabber, or he is fired up and has the drive to win no matter what happens and maybe those last couple of losses just make him even more competitive. I would much rather him sit though in any case.

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Stick to the plan.  He still needs work.  That said, I'm excited for his future.

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I believe everyone is being reactionary. I'm a season ticket holder, trust me I want us to win more than anyone, but I do not want to see Bortles thrown into the situation we are currently in especially regarding recievers. Maybe Bortles could go out there and we go 9-7 or something but it is not yet his time to shine. Let him learn, let our WR situation pan out, and let us get another set of draft picks.

So you think Bortles could potentially start and he could take us to 9-7, but yet you want him to sit? Sorry but that makes no sense to me. You would rather anguish through another 4 or 5 win season because it is not yet his time to shine? What does that even mean?


Trust me I am not all on board for starting him based upon this one short look at him, but this talk of waiting for the relievers to gel or for the line to gel makes no sense as,that may never happen. Maybe even a decent QB will help make our receivers gel. I think you start him when he gives us a better chance to win regardless of the online or receiver situation and I will trust our coaches to make that decision.

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Henne was 4-7 for 30 yards. One of those completions was a poorly thrown ball that could have been picked, but was pinballed around until the tip drill fortunately dropped into the hands of a Jags player for a 13 yard gain. So his stat line could have been 3-7 for 17 yards. I know I have been hard on Chad, but this is an unsurprising outing for him. This is the preseason where defenses aren't really scheming. He is going to need to show in the next couple of games that he has the capacity to move this offense down the field. Questionable O-line or not, if Blake continues to play at a high level, throwing accurate balls, it's gonna be hard to make the case to have him as the backup.

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Only a chump boos the home team!

I'm completely against starting him this season regardless of what happens. That some fans are already calling for Bortles to start going into the actual season isn't surprising but it is shortsighted in my opinion. We've been the laughingstock of the NFL for like 7 years now... and if it takes one more year of us starting Henne and allowing for Bortles to continue to develop and get comfortable and not throw him straight into the fire I'm all for us being the laughingstock once again.

 

 

We can not continue making the same mistakes. We threw Blaine in and everyone knows where that got us.

 

Be patient, trust the coaches and Caldwell who made the decision to draft the guy that they know best to let him sit.

 

The first time I hear the chants are Everbank of bench Henne, bring Bortles, I'm going to be ashamed of the stupidity and short-sightedness of my fellow fans.

 

It was clear even before the draft that Blaine was not ready to start year one. But the same cannot be said for Bortles. Bortles was against the 2s but made several difficult throws look amazingly easy. Henne could not make those throws and I do not believe sitting Bortles makes this team any more competitive. I also don't see how sitting is going to benefit Bortles. Unlike Rodgers or Rivers, Bortles is not sitting behind an elite QB. He is sitting behind Henne, who has showed next to nothing since he has been here. 

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I know I have been hard on Chad, but this is an unsurprising outing for him. 

Henne, for whatever reason, reminded me of the fictional QB, Eddie Bartell, from the movie, The Replacements.  He just kind of sat back and really didn't do much of anything.  This is why he was never an elite QB and never will be.  Should we start Bortles?  No, not just yet, but Henne needs to remove his head from his butt and do it soon!

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That incomplete bootleg pass by Henne was wild. 1) If Henne continues stinking it up and 2) Bortles continues showing poise, Blake should start week 1.

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I'm still shocked how good Bortles looked. Under Gabbert or Henne those drops/penalties would have lead to a downward spiral, Instead he kept firing it accurately and confidently.


I like Henne but Bortles is just 10 times the talent and it shows.

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I remember Blaine being good/decent in preseason too. and we would say how maybe this is the year. I don't trust preseason games as a metric of what a QB is capable of.

 

As for the 9-7 comment. I don't think we could go 9-7 right now, but hey who knows, crazier things have happened.

 

As for Gabbert just sucking.... He was thrown into the worst possible situation imaginable. Our HC/GM fears for their job, Garrard isn't getting it done, they say they are going to sit Gabbert for a year, let him grow.... They cut Garrard before the season even starts, say that McClown and get it done.. he doesn't and we put Gabbert in at week 3.  What followed was Gabbert getting hit every other play, TEs and WRs dropping balls due to a lack of chemistry/knowledge, that resulted in a lack of trust I think. This is our history. This is what has happened to us in the past. The fans called for heads to roll and it ALWAYS ALWAYS bites us in the butt.

 

WE NEED TO BE PATIENT. I don't think Bortles is a Cam or a Luck or even an RG3. Let him develop. Give him the best possible chance to succeed.

 

We can't keep on making the same mistakes.

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The thing is, Gabbert and Bortles are two completely different people. 

 

There's no denying Blake if he keeps playing like this.

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Gabbert never looked like that in pre season. He looked serviceable at his best moments...

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Here's the plan...


 

-Next week no change at QB. Henne starts and Bortles backs up.


 

-If it's yet again clear that Bortles is outplaying Henne, then give Bortles a look against first stringers by starting him in the Preseason game teams are always intent on winning, and that's the third Preseason game.


 

-After this game, make the decision... Henne or Bortles... and stick with the decision at least through September.

 

This is the type of level headed response I'm really sick and tired of reading.  Stop it please.

 

I'm pretty confident that BB5 will be ready to take the wheel in November.  No need to start him any sooner than that.  Let the rest of the team, specifically the WRs and the O-line find thier footing.  

 

I just would rather BB5 sit for the first half of the season.  Let him watch a bit. 

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Gabbert never looked like that in pre season. He looked serviceable at his best moments...

I agree, he had a couple of moments but for the most part he looked "ok".

He still looked scared in the pocket and that was his biggest problem.

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I agree, he had a couple of moments but for the most part he looked "ok".

He still looked scared in the pocket and that was his biggest problem.

We were so desperate for him to be the guy we would get massively excited by him stringing back to back passes together.


That Bortles throw that Brown dropped and The one he drilled in to Hurns showed a level of talent Gabbert never showed.

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We were so desperate for him to be the guy we would get massively excited by him stringing back to back passes together.


That Bortles throw that Brown dropped and The one he drilled in to Hurns showed a level of talent Gabbert never showed.

 

I can't have been the only one expecting Bortles to throw a horrible pass or crumble in the pocket like Gabbert used to do last night? Almost out of being used to it.

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I'm not sure what it is but he just instantly looked in control. Gabbert throwing deep down the field was heart in mouth stuff, same with Henne.I always had hope, but with Bortles I may develop expectation

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One of my favorite plays was his pass (I think it was incomplete) where he did a play action and had a guy right in his face and still threw a dart. The kid just looks confident out there and his post game he was pretty humble and pretty hard on himself. I love that about him.

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I'm completely against starting him this season regardless of what happens. That some fans are already calling for Bortles to start going into the actual season isn't surprising but it is shortsighted in my opinion. We've been the laughingstock of the NFL for like 7 years now... and if it takes one more year of us starting Henne and allowing for Bortles to continue to develop and get comfortable and not throw him straight into the fire I'm all for us being the laughingstock once again.



We can not continue making the same mistakes. We threw Blaine in and everyone knows where that got us.


Be patient, trust the coaches and Caldwell who made the decision to draft the guy that they know best to let him sit.


The first time I hear the chants are Everbank of bench Henne, bring Bortles, I'm going to be ashamed of the stupidity and short-sightedness of my fellow fans.

I agree with this. Start Henne in the regular season. If Bortles starts and he gets overwhelmed along the way, going back to Henne will seem like a backward step for everyone involved. If Henne starts and struggles, switching to Bortles will mean less pressure and it will seem more of a natural progression.


Look, we most aren't going to the playoffs this year either way so it's not like we can't have some patience.


PS: Bortles did look really good in his debut!

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

I keep trying to temper my excitement about BB5's performance.  He was playing against 2nd stringers, must remember this!  Can't wait for what's to come over the next few weeks.

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I keep trying to temper my excitement about BB5's performance.  He was playing against 2nd stringers, must remember this!  Can't wait for what's to come over the next few weeks.

 

Yes, I keep reminding myself of the same thing, but then again we saw Henne play four drives and I'm pretty sure that last one wasn't against all of Tampa's starters.

 

I definitely liked what I saw, though. Guy has the right attitude, throw it down the field, none of the Checkdown Chad stuff. Seems he's been paying good attention to what Henne does to make sure he knows how not to play in the NFL.

 

Bortles throws into windows last night were incredible, and he was actually progressing through reads and making throws at the right time.

 

Even just the roll out pass to the full back was better than anything Henne or Gabbert would have done, because they would have waited so long staring down the TE who was blanked 10 yards further upfield that by the time they got it to the fullback he'd be at the sideline.

 

I feel giddy that we could be to indy in the AFCS what the Patriots were to Manning and the colts in the AFCE. I'd love for Blake, Gus, and the Jaguars to be that hump that Luck just can't get over.

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