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Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles emerging among NFL’s elite

By Sayre Bedinger

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In just his 2nd NFL season, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles has joined the NFL’s elite at the most critical position — how long will it take the Jaguars to reach the top of the AFC South?

Tom Brady. Carson Palmer. Blake Bortles.

Those aren’t the top three quarterbacks in the NFL right now, but they are the top three in terms of touchdown passes thrown this season.

Brady — probably the league’s MVP — has thrown 33. Palmer — another legitimate MVP candidate — has thrown 31. Bortles is sitting on 30 touchdowns through 13 games and is showing no signs of slowing down. This came as a bit of a shock to me, but as a guy who enjoys a good sit-down session with the Red Zone channel, I guess it shouldn’t have.

Bortles and the Jaguars have found their way onto the Red Zone channel quite a bit more in 2015 than they have in recent years, and it’s all thanks to the play of their emerging young QB.

The former UCF star doesn’t have the greatest completion percentage or QB rating, nor does he have the kind of yards per attempt numbers you’d deem perfect, but he’s putting the ball in the end zone, moving it down the field, and putting the Jaguars in a serious position to contend for the AFC South title as soon as this season, as crazy as it sounds.

The 5-8 Jaguars have a chance — albeit slim — to finish this season at 8-8 with a .500 finish for the first time in what seems like forever. It’s so easy to forget that the Jaguars were once one of the NFL’s toughest teams with a defense that consistently had them in the playoffs. They are singing a different tune these days, and thanks to the play of Bortles and the offense, they are by far the highest scoring team in the AFC South and are fresh off of a 51-16 drubbing of division rival Indianapolis.

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Bortles will close out the season with a home game against the Atlanta Falcons and road games in New Orleans and Houston to close it out. He’s got a real chance to reach 40 touchdown passes by season’s end, but he’d likely just settle for a playoff appearance which is a legitimate possibility thanks to how terrible the AFC South has been all year long.

It’s encouraging for Jaguars fans to see the investment they made in Bortles, who is still just 23, paying off in a big way this season at least statistically. They have reason to believe — perhaps more than just reason — that he is the franchise QB they have been hoping for for so long. Bortles is spreading the ball around extremely well, hitting five different receivers for 32 or more receptions this season and seeing Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson combine for 20 of his 30 touchdown passes.

Julius Thomas, who has missed time due to injury (stop me if you’ve heard that before…) also has five touchdowns in his somewhat limited action this season.

Bortles is pushing the right buttons at the moment, and if the Jaguars can continue the momentum we saw a week ago against the Colts, he just might have them in position to play spoiler in the playoffs…this season.

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