CH OF FIRST WIN
AFTER STRUGGLING ON WEST COAST, JAGUARS RETURN TO EVERBANK FIELD
After playing well and having a chance to
win in the final minutes against the Green
Bay Packers in Week 1, the abrupt change
in performance in Week 2 was a shock
throughout the organization and fan base.
With the immediate direction of the 2016
season suddenly in question heading into
today’s Week 3 game against the Baltimore
Ravens, the early part of this week was spent
searching for answers in the aftermath of the
38-14 loss to the Chargers.“
Overall, I think we all shoulder the
responsibility, we all take blame for what
took place (Sunday),” Jaguars Head Coach
Gus Bradley said in his Monday afternoon
media conference call.
“Once you do that, you’ve got to apply those
lessons that you learned and go. We have
to learn from this. Learning means it gets
corrected. We can talk all that we want about
learning, but if it shows up again the next
week that is not learning.”
In the postgame radio interview last week,
Bradley said three areas of emphasis on
offense entering the game fell short of
expectations: time of possession, quarterback
rating, and taking care of the football.
The Jaguars held the ball for just under
11 minutes in the first half, Blake Bortles’
quarterback rating was 77.8 and the Jags
turned the ball over three times in the first
half.
“I think we kind of took ourselves out of
rhythm by doing stupid stuff, the turnovers
and the penalties,” Bortles said after the
game. “We talked about trying to win on third
down and staying ahead on first and second
down, but we weren’t able to do that. We took
ourselves out on the first play of the game and
went downhill from there.”
The Jaguars were flagged for a false start
before the first offensive snap, and finished
the game with 14 penalties for 93 yards.
“We had three turnovers in the first half, all
completely my fault,” Bortles added. “It’s hard
to win when you play like that.”
For Bradley, his third-year quarterback can
learn a lot from a game like last week.
“I know sometimes in those situations, you’re
down 21-0 and you have a tendency to make
big plays happen to get back quickly into the
game,” Bradley said. “When you do that, at
times, you get greedy. You just try to make big
plays happen. I understand where he was at.
He’s a playmaker for us. I think there are great
lessons to be learned there.
“I THINK WE KIND OF TOOK OURSELVES OUT OF RHYTHM BY DOING
STUPID STUFF, THE TURNOVERS AND THE PENALTIES,”
— Blake Bortles