Blake Bortles: I'm eyeballing the crow

I thought the Jags were crazy to take him with pick #3. Preseason and all that, but the kid is looking really good. He's outplayed Matthew Stafford.

He looked allright but saying he looked better than Stafford isnt saying much. The guy has an 83 or so career QB rating..hes not that good.

He's got one of the better nicknames I've seen.

Bortle Kombat.

I haven't seen him yet. All I remember was that at UCF he had a nasty accuracy issue on crossing routes down the field. Maybe they fixed it already? Other than that, Bortles was pretty dang good as a prospect.

Nick Foles had like 30 issues at Arizona and Walrus jr. fixed them by the first preseason game in 2012. RG3 had crappy mechanics and fundamentals at Baylor but lit the NFL on fire on day one. Sometimes 'project' QBs turn out to be good much earlier than people expect.

I really think Blake is a star in the making. I'm a Jag fan but I'm not being biased. I knew Gabbert sucked from the second pre-season began. Chris Clemons was talking about how Bortles reminded him of Wilson cause the guy has no fear.

I mean, Blake's first drive last night was backed up in his own endzone with like a minute or so on the clock and he just drove down the field like he's played against the Lions a million times. Settled for a field goal in the end but could've been 6 had the ref not blown the whistle on his fake spike.

Sure, it's pre-season and the coverages are vanilla but I feel like us Jag fans can finally be excited at the QB position.

I posted last weak that I liked his decision making. Not sure if that will hold up but so far so good.

He's been lighting up this preseason. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised that Gus named Henne as his week 1 starter. Gus was here for the Wilson/Flynn decision. You'd think he'd be more comfortable with a rookie QB than most.

Bortles is going to start at some point, and JAX won't contend with Henne. Might as well get Bortles the reps now. Can't think of any reason to go with Henne.

How does their o-line look? If they're bad, Gus may not want to risk his newly-drafted quarterback behind them during the regular season.

kearly":cv6edavg said:

I haven't seen him yet. All I remember was that at UCF he had a nasty accuracy issue on crossing routes down the field. Maybe they fixed it already? Other than that, Bortles was pretty dang good as a prospect.

Nick Foles had like 30 issues at Arizona and Walrus jr. fixed them by the first preseason game in 2012. RG3 had crappy mechanics and fundamentals at Baylor but lit the NFL on fire on day one. Sometimes 'project' QBs turn out to be good much earlier than people expect.

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Do you base the "accuracy" issue on a Bucky Brooks article http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200000 ... t-elite-qb , or did you base your opinion on your own analysis? Perhaps a bit of both. How much did you actually watch him play? I assume the best that you at least watched some tape b/c I know you do your homework (far more than most of us have time to do.) Sometimes, that doesn't really tell the full story, though. This is one of those cases.

Like I said previously in another thread (in May) viewtopic.php?f=18&t=92817&hilit=+Bortles when others were calling him the biggest reach... I asserted that Bortles was the prize QB of the draft. Everyone is starting to see why. He's still got lots of room to improve and I'm in no way saying he's arrived, but looks like the Jags didn't have to wait long to show everyone they didn't "reach" on Bortles. He was worthy of that 3rd overall pick.

I had the pleasure of taking one of my boys out to meet and get a photo with Bortles recently at a Jaguars Fan rally in Orlando. (We - of course - proudly wore our Seahawks gear, but respectfully gave props to what the Jags are building with Gus to anyone that asked.) There were other team fans there as well. Lots of Bortles fans/support no matter team allegiance. He seems like the kind of kid one doesn't mind seeing do well... even if he's not with your team.

Gusbusser":32bxdxwj said:

Sure, it's pre-season and the coverages are vanilla but I feel like us Jag fans can finally be excited at the QB position.

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Matt Hasselbeck used to be called Mr. August every year back in his days sitting behind Favre... and he parlayed that into a pretty descent and long career. Bortles obviously doesn't have a Favre sitting in front of him, but he looks like he's gonna be pretty good, if not this year, maybe next.