Bortles, Jaguars' offense establish early rhythm in win over Jets

Jaguars QB throws for career high 388-yards

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A week after laying a 6-point egg in a loss the Jacksonville Jaguars offense responded in a big way during Sunday’s 31-12 win over the New York Jets. 

Running back Leonard Fournette was back in the lineup, after missing two games with a hamstring injury but it was quarterback Blake Bortles who ignited the Jaguars offense. 

From Jacksonville’s first offensive drive it was clear that Bortles was on target, unlike last week against the Tennessee Titans. Bortles was 5-for-5 on the 15-play, 80-yard drive that gave the Jaguars an early 3-0 lead over the Jets. 

In the past when Bortles gets off to a good start that momentum usually carries throughout the game. That was once again the case on Sunday. 

Bortles set a new career-high by completing his first 11 passes of the game. He finished the first half 16-of-19 for 216 yards and touchdown. 

Sunday’s game was very reminiscent of the Jaguars offensive performance against the New England Patriots two weeks ago. Everybody got to touch the football which was illustrated by Bortles connecting with 10 different receivers. 

"I think talking about it throughout this past week, I really wanted to push the ball down the field and make up for not doing it last week," said Bortles, who finished the game with a career high of 388 passing yards. "I think it was coming along and the big thing this week was just emphasizing only take it if it’s there." 

That patience paid off. Donte Moncrief and Dede Westbrook became the first Jaguars duo to top 100 yards receiving since Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns in Dec. of 2015. 

"Somebody has to bring the spark," said Moncrief, who had 105 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown. "You can’t wait on somebody to bring the spark. That was our thing today. Everybody has to bring the spark. That’s what we did. Everybody continued to make plays and people just played off of each other. Dede had a great game, Blake was throwing the ball real well and the offensive line was doing their thing. If we can continue to build from it we can be unstoppable on the offensive side of the ball.”

Jacksonville wants to be a run-first team that controls the line of scrimmage. That’s hard to do without Fournette, who missed the second half of Sunday’s game after experiencing tightness in his right hamstring.  

But when Bortles is this accurate, it’s clear he can carry the load. He may need to next week as the Jaguars head on the road to Kansas City to face the high-powered offense of the Kansas City Chiefs.