Alan Truex: Jaguars’ Blake Bortles gets no respect but keeps winning
Seems to me the NFL postseason peaked last weekend. Of course it’s too much to ask for Championship Sunday to be as spellbinding as the divisional playoff in Minnesota. A semi-Hail Mary turned into the greatest football miracle since the 1972 Immaculate Reception.
So now the Vikings, on the wings of Stefon Diggs, advance to the NFC Championship Game. After so astonishingly overcoming the future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, they face the Philadelphia Eagles’ much uncoveted backup quarterback, Nick Foles.
Some will think of this as the Jeff Fisher Bowl. Foles and the Vikings’ Case Keenum were both coached last year, to absolutely no avail, by Fisher with the Los Angeles Rams.
Over on the American side, the matchup is slightly more appealing only because of a star even more lustrous than Brees: Tom Brady, always introduced now as The Greatest of All Time. And coached – we don’t know how much longer — by the man who’s shoving aside Lombardi as the sport’s coaching icon.
Mike Florio, who provides generally sharp analysis on Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports Network), summarized the upcoming playoff lineup as “Tom Brady and three stiffs.”
If only Brady had a worthy opponent Sunday. Anyone but Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles, America is saying.
Bortles is the most universally maligned quarterback since Tim Tebow. There are resemblances in the two. Each was a first-round draft choice from Florida who was expected to be the cornerstone of an NFL franchise. Each is big, strong and quick-footed.
Tebow played well enough to lead his team into the postseason (2011) and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, as Bortles did this season.
They share a common flaw: a habit of throwing some screamingly awful passes: wobblers. ducks and knuckleballs that sink and die yards ahead of the target.
Tebow and Bortles have enjoyed fame and success that most of us would envy. Yet they’ve suffered widespread rebuke. Because of their erratic throwing and ridiculous visuals, fans – and coaches and players – have difficulty believing they can be useful.
Chris Simms, former Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback who now analyzes the game for PFT, repeatedly has called Bortles “the 70th-best quarterback in the NFL.”
Adam Schein of NFL Monday QB made a serial comedy riff based on “Blake Bortles, you’re the worst.”
Jadeveon Clowney, Pro Bowl defensive end of the Houston Texans, characterized Bortles as “trash.”
Tennessee’s star defensive lineman, Jurrell Casey, was more expansive: “As long as Bortles is back there, if the ballgame is in his hands, he’s going to choke.”
But after Bortles surgically dissected the Steelers in a 45-42 upset at Heinz Field, opinions were revised. Schein appeared on the set wearing a No. 5 Jaguars jersey.
Even the most critical of Bortles bashers had to acknowledge that he performed well: 213 yards, 8.2 per pass, a touchdown and zero picks and sacks.
Still, most pundits were showering the credit not on Bortles but on Jaguars rookie Leonard Fournette, for his 109 yards, 4.4 per run, and 3 touchdowns.
Bortles’ tidy stats were compiled, it was said, because the Steeler defense was bracing for Fournette. No doubt that’s true, but it’s still fun to cheer for Bortles, who has absolutely no chips on his very broad shoulders. His skin is thicker than a wild boar’s.
“I have no animosity against anyone who said anything,” he said. When specific putdowns were cited, he responded with affable shrugs and smiles.
But when pressed, he did offer some biting perspective: “This is the highest level of football there is in the world. It’s tough to say that someone playing here is not a good football player or is trash.”
In fact, ever since Bortles stepped into the NFL, he’s been better than trash. He’s been better than 70th. His arm is stronger than Tebow’s, and he’s always been able to run for first downs. In the playoff opener against Tennessee, Bortles passed for only 87 yards, but he ran for 88.
His receivers rank fourth in the NFL in drops, and even though no Pro Bowl linemen are blocking for him, Bortles has been sacked 24 times—just 4 more than the famously elusive and better-protected Brees.
In this golden age of analytics, there are metrics that rank Bortles as 16th among quarterbacks in “value per play.”
Most teams can live with that, especially if they have a running back as good as Fournette – Jaguars’ No. 1 draft pick in April — and a defense as good as theirs.
This is a team that allowed 17 TD passes this season and produced 21 interceptions. Bortles had a ratio of 21 TDs to 13 INT. You don’t have to be a math major to see that he puts the Jaguars in a very favorable position. Against just about anybody but Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
Yes, I recognize he’s a far cry from Tom Brady. And indeed he may have been a reach at No. 3 overall in the 2014 draft. And I don’t expect the Jaguars to win Sunday. Not that they should be discouraged by that, considering my forecasting record this season.
But let’s appreciate Blake Bortles as a solid professional quarterback and an exceptionally classy human. He’s shown America how to respond to unfair critics: not with hate and venom but with hard work, humility, tolerance and grace.