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.

 

You remember wrong then.  

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I was wrong about Trent Baalke. 

We definitely need to see more.  Bortles may be the kind of guy who plays better than he practices.  And Henne really needs to step his game up.  There's pressure Chad, not from the defense, but from the guys in the QB room with you.  Time to answer the bell or step aside.

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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.

I'm confident it would not "crush his spirit" in any form. The dude is a gamer and by all accounts lives and breathes the game. His attitude reminds me of Tom Brady. No, I am not saying he IS Tom Brady in terms of ability. He seems to be highly competitive and it showed already last night.

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We definitely need to see more. Bortles may be the kind of guy who plays better than he practices. And Henne really needs to step his game up. There's pressure Chad, not from the defense, but from the guys in the QB room with you. Time to answer the bell or step aside.

If both of them continue to play even remotely close to how they did last night Coach Bradley won't have a choice, his hand will be played for him. The town will riot for Bortles if Henne continues to play as he did last night. You can't keep Bortles off the field in that case.

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Hype over 1 preaseaon game.

 

At least wait until week 3 or 4 to make that claim. I liked what I saw, but it was one game against 2nd team players. As a #3 overall pick he should look good against them.

 

That said I am excited about what he could bring to the team in the future, but I want to be patient. If he is still doing this come week three of the pre-season and Henne looks the same then I will change my tune and call for him to start week 1. But that would be after 3 consecutive weeks of good QB play much like Wilson did in Seattle.

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Hype over 1 preaseaon game.

 

At least wait until week 3 or 4 to make that claim. I liked what I saw, but it was one game against 2nd team players. As a #3 overall pick he should look good against them.

 

That said I am excited about what he could bring to the team in the future, but I want to be patient. If he is still doing this come week three of the pre-season and Henne looks the same then I will change my tune and call for him to start week 1. But that would be after 3 consecutive weeks of good QB play much like Wilson did in Seattle.

 

Did you see the scrimmage last week? Because what we saw from Bortles last night was essentially the same as what we saw from him in the scrimmage, and it was GOOD.

 

It's not even close. Henne is a career journeyman backup who will likely be out of the league within a few years and Bortles has the look of a guy who is going to be winning a lot of playoff games.

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

 

This "work" will come from the bench?

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Did you see the scrimmage last week? Because what we saw from Bortles last night was essentially the same as what we saw from him in the scrimmage, and it was GOOD.

 

It's not even close. Henne is a career journeyman backup who will likely be out of the league within a few years and Bortles has the look of a guy who is going to be winning a lot of playoff games.

 

That's fine, but he is just doing what a #3 overall pick should do. Again its preseason, and like I said if he continues to play like this each game then yea I would be in favor of starting him week 1.

 

Im just not going to jump on the train from a few isolated moments at this time. Show me consistency for the most part and then I will join in the the praise. What happens if he totally tanks next week.....

 

Thats all I am trying to say. He is definitely more talented than Henne is, thats not even an argument. 

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That's fine, but he is just doing what a #3 overall pick should do. Again its preseason, and like I said if he continues to play like this each game then yea I would be in favor of starting him week 1.

 

Im just not going to jump on the train from a few isolated moments at this time. Show me consistency for the most part and then I will join in the the praise. What happens if he totally tanks next week.....

 

Thats all I am trying to say. He is definitely more talented than Henne is, thats not even an argument. 

 

If he tanks next week then we should bench Henne so that Bortles can get more experience.

 

If he plays great next week then we should bench Henne so that Bortles can continue growing and leading the team.

 

Basically we should just bench Henne, maybe even release him just for good measure.

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If he tanks next week then we should bench Henne so that Bortles can get more experience.

 

If he plays great next week then we should bench Henne so that Bortles can continue growing and leading the team.

 

Basically we should just bench Henne, maybe even release him just for good measure.

 

Wow.....ummm why would you release Henne. Obv he has provided good motivation for Blake as he looks miles better than he did at OTAs. Also, last time I checked injuries still happen in the NFL, so why would we cut a backup QB who already knows our entire offense? I understand you are excited and want to start the future now, but just be patient. He will start when he is ready to start. I think he will get his first reps with the starters in week three of pre-season if he has another good outing next week.

 

And should he shine in week three as well, then he is starting week 1, IMO.

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That's fine, but he is just doing what a #3 overall pick should do. Again its preseason, and like I said if he continues to play like this each game then yea I would be in favor of starting him week 1.


Im just not going to jump on the train from a few isolated moments at this time. Show me consistency for the most part and then I will join in the the praise. What happens if he totally tanks next week.....


Thats all I am trying to say. He is definitely more talented than Henne is, thats not even an argument.

I can't speak for everyone but I wasn't trying to say let Bortles have the job and never let Henne have a shot. I want a true QB competition and I'm not buying the "Henne is the starter and Bortles will sit all year" rhetoric we've heard. Bortles will no doubt fall back down closer to earth but the difference between the two is night and day. Blake has qualities that you need in a starter that Henne simply has never had. It isn't a knock on Henne and honestly I feel he's been asked to do more than he's really capable of (full time starter) and he should be used as a backup spot duty player.

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I have no idea how firm Bradley will stick to his guns on this "Henne's the starter" thing, but I do know the kid is gonna' make it hard not to change his mind.

 

I'm certainly not going to make a definitive statement on it based on one preseason game in which Bortles played against the twos, however. 

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You remember wrong then.  

 

Yeah, I agree. 

 

I know a lot of people on this board seemed to think that Blaine played well in preseason, but I never really thought he did. I remember having very lively arguments vs people who disagreed and called me names for having that take. Blaine never looked like he was in "control" or had much "confidence" in what he was doing. He always looked very mechanical, whereas Bortles looks natural at the position out there both physically and command wise. 

 

Blake in his first game looks better than pretty much anything Blaine ever showed. 

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Wow.....ummm why would you release Henne. Obv he has provided good motivation for Blake as he looks miles better than he did at OTAs. Also, last time I checked injuries still happen in the NFL, so why would we cut a backup QB who already knows our entire offense? I understand you are excited and want to start the future now, but just be patient. He will start when he is ready to start. I think he will get his first reps with the starters in week three of pre-season if he has another good outing next week.

 

And should he shine in week three as well, then he is starting week 1, IMO.

 

It was a bit of humor.

 

Really, though, Henne isn't anything but a distraction on the road to Bortles being the man.

 

If Fisch thinks there's still something that Bortles can only get by sitting then okay, I'll accept it, but I've seen Henne play against second teamers many times in preseason, and he never looked as good as Bortles has.

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I have no idea how firm Bradley will stick to his guns on this "Henne's the starter" thing, but I do know the kid is gonna' make it hard not to change his mind.


I'm certainly not going to make a definitive statement on it based on one preseason game in which Bortles played against the twos, however.

Me either but in my eyes Blake earned the chance to get reps with the 1s this week and a chance to play with them next week. There's no need to designate him as the week 1 starter by any stretch. He needs to show consistency but he'he's earned an opportunity based on what I have seen thus far.

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I like the comment someone made in the game story comments section: the sooner we start playing Bortles the sooner we can start booing him. LOL.

 

I told my wife, when I heard the roar that went up when Bortes entered the game, that the "start Bortles" comments may exceed twenty pages on the message board.

 

Does this mean Caldwell and Bradley were just kidding when they made their statements - about one hundred times - that Henne is the starter for the foreseeable future? I don't recall them also saying "well at least the first two games."

 

When do they modify Bortles jersey - changing "Bortles" to "Savior"?

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The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

It was a bit of humor.

 

Really, though, Henne isn't anything but a distraction on the road to Bortles being the man.

 

If Fisch thinks there's still something that Bortles can only get by sitting then okay, I'll accept it, but I've seen Henne play against second teamers many times in preseason, and he never looked as good as Bortles has.

 

I am not saying Bortles shouldn't start. All I am saying is that I am not ready to make that jump on the "start week 1" train after a few isolated incidents. If Bortles continues to perform as I expect him to. Then week 3 or 4 of preseason it will be obvious to everyone that he should start the season.

 

However, should he falter and Henne provides more consistency within our offense then they should stick to the plan until Bortles is ready.

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It was a bit of humor.


Really, though, Henne isn't anything but a distraction on the road to Bortles being the man.


If Fisch thinks there's still something that Bortles can only get by sitting then okay, I'll accept it, but I've seen Henne play against second teamers many times in preseason, and he never looked as good as Bortles has.

Henne hasn't looked as good as Blake did last night once since he's been here. I'm sorry and not trying to rag on Henne I appreciate the work he's put in since he's been here. But if you didn't know any better you would have thought Henne was the rookie and Blake was an established veteran based on the way they handled themselves last night. I guarantee Henne can feel the heat now.

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This "work" will come from the bench?

Yes.  I'm sure you realize that just because the guy isn't playing on gameday that he isn't just sleeping in until noon every day popping cold ones and playing Call of Duty.  His mechanics need the most work and he'll benefit from coaching more than anything with that.

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No.

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Coughlin when asked if winning will be a focus: "What the hell else is there? This is nice and dandy, but winning is what all this is about."