Here's my issue with this:  Bradley has said from day one that this team is all about competition.  Every position is a competition for playing time and the guy who wins that competition will play.  Why is it now so different for the QB's?  I just don't think he can talk about competition all the time then say that Henne is the starter even though Bortles clearly is the better player (if he continues to show).

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I'm not sure why this causes some of you so much confusion.

 

Bortles is the future of this franchise.  There is no QB competition right now beyond the rookies competition to learn the playbook, and to work on the issues with his footwork and learning the speed of the game at this level.  He's not competing with Henne.  Henne is a placeholder until he is ready.  Why is that so difficult for some to understand?

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

If that's the approach you want to take, then Bortles should be starting now if he's better than Henne. That isn't the approach we've been told is being taken, though. Bortles is sitting until he's ready to play, not until he's the best option. If that's the case now, why would it change just because Henne sucks?


To put it another way, if Bortles ends up sitting behind Henne despite being the better quarterback, why would you think it's impossible for him to then end up sitting behind Stanzi despite being the better quarterback?

If it was up to me which sadly it is not, I would have Bortles starting.  I figure if Gus & Dave felt that confident in Bortles & we  know what to expect from Henne than why not put him in and have him learn the ropes like Peyton did his rookie year (it might not be a stellar year, but heck he's learning for next season)?


Knowing it is really up to Gus as to whom starts at QB, and he so far as publicly said (most recently) that Chad is his starter.  He has said on the record that he had no intention of playing Blake this year, but rather having him spend the time learning under Chad and the coaching staff.  However a lot of teams lie to us with that stuff, so we can see thru the frufru bs and know that most likely Bortles will start some time this year.

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Against pretty much no pass rush. Throw him up against a team blitzing heavily and it could be a different story, and one with a less happy ending.

A very valid point we have yet to even see Bortles start in preseason agaisnt the starters of the opposing team (probably week 3 preseason and/ or 4).  I think he'll do fine but is a valid point.

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Raven09s, although you can't spell, I'll bite. The two QBs not comparing in any "catagory" was my point. I'm talking about Gabbert because I was drawing parallels between the incumbent and the predecessor and why I felt like the hope of this QB's success holds more weight than the last QB that attempted to lead this franchise. Also, it's my thoughts on why I'm cool with him sitting a season, but wouldn't be opposed to him playing this year. Either way, you'd probably be the same person who'd enter a thread just to say "why do we need another thread," so just be happy I dumped my opinion here where it's on topic and relevant.

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At the end of the day I feel it was more coach speak than anything. Blake has his problems to work on and I don't want him to start until that is rectified, but to me the real reason he will sit is because there are just to many moving parts in this offense right now that could lead to diasterious results.


Russell had Marshawn and okung on the line, Ryan had Roddy, even Luck was throwing to Wayne. There is no version of veteran presence or stability on this offense in any way shape or form. I feel they want this to take shape first and then slowly easy him in. The only player I feel could provide that presence is Marecdes Lewis and...... Yeah.


Let's just understand this season to be another focus of getting better and 2015 as our ascension into the upper tier of the league. I haven't watched a jags qb play like that in sometime. Even in the preseason. I can endure on more season cause I see the light at the ending the tunnel.

 

http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bo...kron-2013/

 

Lets not forget fairness too, I mean Chad Henne was the starter last year and being a veteran QB starter shouldnt Blake Bortles have to prove (in preseason) that he performs at a higher level than Chad without a doubt before benching your starter simply because you drafted Bortles high in the draft?


Again I feel Bortles is way better than Chad but just saying..

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They will start him when he's ready. It's really not that big of a discussion.


Can he be ready to start by week one? Yes. Is it HIGHLY unlikely? Yes.

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I was watching him vs Penn State 2013 he threw a nice accurate 45 yard deep over the shoulder pass (6:30 in the video from http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bo...tate-2013/  )

and a couple other 40 yard passes in that game, but I have yet to see a game where he threw for over 45 yards so I am guessing that is the farest he can throw?

 

I saw him zip some balls even 35 yards really fast when he wants under pressure no less check out vs SC at 7:45 http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bo...lina-2013/

 

Correction almost 50 yards in this 2012 game http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bo...hall-2012/ vs marshall  10 secs in to the video...

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He looked good Friday night. I was impressed on virtually every throw he attempted. If you take back the two drops that Mike Brown had, and the one that Taylor dropped earlier, he's basically perfect at the end of the day. He showed poise, he took some tough hits, moved out of the pocket, but he didn't shy if he had to climb the pocket a bit as well. Again, it's early. And I don't think we should rush him into anything or jump to conclusions just yet. The interior of the offensive line has to get better. I was getting frustrated with the East-West running I saw out of Storm on Friday, but after watching the game from home on Saturday. I could see more closely that we were FLAT OUT getting blown up from the snap and getting pushed around into the backfield rather than holding the ground and pushing the ball forward. Robinson's speed was what we really stole the show a bit later on. Hopefully Gearhart can bring some solid gains into the mix shortly. Brewster needs to get it together as well. Meester gave us 14 years of underrated and underappreciated football. I saw on just two bad snaps why and how he was pivotal after all these years.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

I saw this on the browns board by a member back in dec 2013 about Bortles  http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=149&f=176...071939&p=6 which I thought was a good write up post.

 

<p class="">Posted: 12/14/2013 3:15 PM


Re: Blake Bortles - UCF QB
After watching the breakdown vids of all of his games this year I've been very impressed. He's definitely my second ranked QB and I don't think it's that close. Bortles just looks like an NFL QB to me. He goes through his progressions very well. He seems to have the best pocket presence of anyone. He knows when to step up and when to scramble around the end. He always keeps his eyes down the field looking to make a play, though he's a good looking athlete as well. His arm is reasonable. Not one of the best in the NFL, but not a weakness that will hold him back either. To me it seems like he has much better anticipation that Hundley. while Hundley goes through his progressions as well, he by passed open guys too often looking for something else. Bortles it seemed got rid of the ball once he had someone open. It didn't seem like his wr's were doing him any favors a lot of times.


I think his accuracy is pretty good. He certainly had some wobbles sometimes, but for the most part I think he's pretty good there. He doesn't appear to have the quickest release either, but again it isn't what I would call a weakness either.


In my opinion the ability to read a defense, identify the open man quickly, and have a strong pocket presence is what makes qbs successful in the NFL. A lot of guys can make all the throws, throw an accurate ball, or throw the ball a mile on a rope, but the first things I mentioned hold them back from success. I think Bortles demonstrates all of those first things clearly in his games this year. If we could get him with our later first round pick I'd be thrilled, but I wouldn't be mad taking him at 7 either.

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I'm not.  He played well behind guys who mostly won't even be here after final cuts and did fine.  

 

The starting offensive line was manhandled, the backups did well against TB's backups however. 

 

Blake did not have similar pressure/bad snaps that Chad had. Plus TB did not blitz.

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I have gone back and forth on this issue. Here is what I think right now. Against the Bucs, Blake looked a lot better than Chad. BUT, he played against second stringers, and no blitz, and if you watch the miked up video, he says himself he's glad they didn't blitz because he wouldn't have been able to deal with it. Something about having "no idea who the Mike was." Plus Henne had two drives stopped by bad snaps from the center.


So as good as he looked, he is not ready to start in a real game. Henne is still our best option. Probably not for long, but for right now.

Chenne had a drive against 2nd stringers. It didn't go well.


I'd guess he was joking about the whole mike lb thing. He's been doing it for years. He stated after that the defense was in 2 deep so they wouldn't blitz.


For what it's worth, in college Bortles completed 71% of his passes when blitzed. Sure it's different in the nfl but it's not something he struggled with in college. He was pretty damn good in college when facing a rush.

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It's kind of amusing watching FBT agreeing with TMD in such a way as to suggest that he's arguing violently with him. Force of habit, and an inability to hold to his own oft-repeated mantra about arguing with idiots.

 

Just be glad that he and TMD agree (over in Politics) regarding Obama and Obamacare. Otherwise, this would be never ending.

 

I've taken my shots at TMD  - I mean, some times he just seems to beg for it, but by and large I just let it pass. Life is too short.

 

But as Scarecrow noted, it's become part of the message board experience.

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

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bortles-vs-akron-2013/'>http://draftbreakdown.com/video/blake-bortles-vs-akron-2013/</a>


Lets not forget fairness too, I mean Chad Henne was the starter last year and being a veteran QB starter shouldnt Blake Bortles have to prove (in preseason) that he performs at a higher level than Chad without a doubt before benching your starter simply because you drafted Bortles high in the draft?


Again I feel Bortles is way better than Chad but just saying..

I agree. It's the spirit of completion. It not only speaks to Henne and Blake but other members of the team. Who can trust a coach knowing they will play a guy because of their draft position or contract? Play the guy who is better and play the guy who has earned their keep.


An example would be Bruce Irvin. He was a top 15 draft pick but didn't play a down in the Super Bowl because KJ Wright and Malcom Smith; fourth and seventh round picks respectively, were just the better players. That's not a knock on Irving but more to the idea that the best man play because they fit and they have earned it

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Chenne had a drive against 2nd stringers. It didn't go well.


I'd guess he was joking about the whole mike lb thing. He's been doing it for years. He stated after that the defense was in 2 deep so they wouldn't blitz.


For what it's worth, in college Bortles completed 71% of his passes when blitzed. Sure it's different in the nfl but it's not something he struggled with in college. He was pretty damn good in college when facing a rush.

 

You may be right about that "Mike" thing.  I went back and he seemed to be joking.  Maybe.   It was hard to understand what he meant.  He said, "I'm glad they didn't blitz because I had no idea who I was miking."   Which I assume means he had no idea what the right line call would have been. 

 

And then he said, jokingly, "They're too high, they're not coming."   I really don't know what that last sentence means; maybe he meant they were lined up too deep to blitz. 

 

I don't want to read too much into it when he was just joking on the sidelines.  Anyway, it's good to see the guy has a personality. 

 

I trust the coaches to know when he's ready.  After the other night, it will probably be this year, not next year like they've been saying. 

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I dv-r'd the game and have watched it a couple times. I am impressed by Bortles' accuracy and toughness. He got nailed a couple times, especially on that sack, and he just popped up. Definitely would prefer he didn't get hit though. Hope the o - line is good, once it gels.

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I'm not sure why this causes some of you so much confusion.

 

Bortles is the future of this franchise.  There is no QB competition right now beyond the rookies competition to learn the playbook, and to work on the issues with his footwork and learning the speed of the game at this level.  He's not competing with Henne.  Henne is a placeholder until he is ready.  Why is that so difficult for some to understand?

 

It's pretty simple really... There are many of us that think Bortles already gives us the best chance to win and the gap between him and Henne is only going to increase. This idea of Henne being the unquestioned, uncontested placeholder while turning a blind eye to the fact that Blake is better makes no sense. What has Henne ever done to garner this guaranteed job as the starter? This isn't an Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre situation. Henne is an average (at best) QB. I think all some of us are arguing here is that if Blake markedly outperforms Henne in the preseason, how does it make any sense not to play him? Why is there this myth out there that Blake can't develop as he plays?

 

I just think that the better player should play. It would be one thing if Blake was struggling mightily in practice and in the first preseason game while Henne had been playing steady and people were trying to force Blake into the starting job, but as you and everyone else knows, that is not the case at all.

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You may be right about that "Mike" thing. I went back and he seemed to be joking. Maybe. It was hard to understand what he meant. He said, "I'm glad they didn't blitz because I had no idea who I was miking." Which I assume means he had no idea what the right line call would have been.


And then he said, jokingly, "They're too high, they're not coming." I really don't know what that last sentence means; maybe he meant they were lined up too deep to blitz.


I don't want to read too much into it when he was just joking on the sidelines. Anyway, it's good to see the guy has a personality.


I trust the coaches to know when he's ready. After the other night, it will probably be this year, not next year like they've been saying.

Pure speculation but when he's talking about the mike it's simply identifying the mlb so the o-linemen know their assignments.


Then, "they're two high" meaning cover 2 which most teams won't blitz out of.

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Pure speculation but when he's talking about the mike it's simply identifying the mlb so the o-linemen know their assignments.


Then, "they're two high" meaning cover 2 which most teams won't blitz out of.

 

That is definitely wrong.  He was clearly trying to evaluate how much drugs the other team was using and if they still had the hand-eye coordination to catch him.

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That is definitely wrong. He was clearly trying to evaluate how much drugs the other team was using and if they still had the hand-eye coordination to catch him.

I stand corrected.

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There is hardly a competition. Blake is being groomed. It's in the best interest of the franchise. Whether we like it or not, he's on the pine right now. Maybe part of the competition is knowing the playbook. I happen to think that muscle memory is part of the reason why Caldwell initially said they'd "redshirt" him. But if we were to see him, I'm hoping it's after week 10 where he has 2 weeks to prepare for Indy, we'd have a pretty good idea what our offense looks like, and we can get a few educational lumps in 6 games going into the offseason

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