O-Zone: Ugh… ouch

John: I don’t see that move being made at this point, and neither do I believe that Henne currently is the better option. But there’s not an ideal answer here, or an ideal move. Bortles on Sunday didn’t play well enough for the Jaguars to win, and his lack of consistency hurt at times. The lack of ability to make a big-time throw 15-to-20 yards downfield at times hurt, too. But wide receiver Marqise Lee flat-out dropping a catchable, well-thrown ball in overtime hurt more. And allowing two – TWO! – touchdown runs of 69 yards or more … yeah, those hurt. Bortles doesn’t appear that he’s going to consistently win games for you right now. But my guess is the coaches feel he played well enough for the Jaguars to win Sunday had they not done some really bad things at some really bad times. And the memory of Bortles making a lot of good plays a week ago remains fresh. It would be great if Bortles was putting the team on his shoulders and winning a game such as Sunday’s. He’s not. But he’s still the best option for now and my guess is he will remain the Jaguars’ starter. And yes, I felt passionately about the two touchdown runs. You can tell because I not only described them with CAPITAL LETTERS but with exclamation points!!!

John: Or worst. But whatever.

John: I expected this sort of an email after Sunday’s game – and truth be told, I expected it from Jerell. And I’m sure this will be a common reaction from many observers. But this team is not a fraud, and it’s not one that’s terribly hard to characterize right now. It’s a team with a defense that has potential to be very good. It’s also a young defense that has played four games together – not to mention a gap defense that’s going to rely on speed and pursuit; those last few factors sometimes lead to big plays allowed on defense, which happened Sunday. Overall, though, this still feels like it will consistently be a good defense – and the end of the game and overtime again showed as much. Offensively? That’s a different story. It’s a team that can run the ball well at times and a team that is going to get some good days from the quarterback and some rough days. Sunday was a rough day, which not only makes it tough in the passing game it also makes the going in the run game tough, too. But no, Jerell: the team is not a fraud. It’s a team that deserves its 2-2 record, but also a team that with a break Sunday could have been 3-1. I suspect they’ll be in a bunch more games such as Sunday’s, and I believe they’ll win a bunch of those games. I still have a tough time seeing this team in the postseason, but I don’t have a tough time seeing this team winning and competing and looking improved over the next 12 games.

John: Not this week, it didn’t. It has known how to win twice, and it has known how to win three times under Head Coach Doug Marrone. I’m not surprised this season has featured some highs and lows. And I’m not surprised Sunday’s game played out as it did. I believed the Jaguars would win Sunday and I wrote as much. But I also felt before the game that those who believed it would be an easy Jaguars victory or that the Jets were so awful they couldn’t stay in the game were forgetting a lot of things. One thing they were forgetting was that the Jets had played well the week before and were playing at home; the Jets don’t believe their season is over and they played like a team that believes in itself Sunday. That’s a dangerous combination. Another thing people were forgetting was despite two impressive victories this was still a Jaguars team that had lost to Tennessee in one-sided fashion. It’s not yet a team that has proven itself to have a reliable, week-to-week offense. When that’s the case, it’s hard to win comfortably on a consistent basis. This team is learning how to win. It has shown that twice this season. It also has shown it’s not yet a great, dominant team. Teams that aren’t dominant tend to lose games they should win some weeks and win games in enticing fashion other weeks. Welcome to the 2017 Jaguars.

John: Yes, cut them all. Absolutely. Fire them all. Revamp the entire roster, or at least half of it. Hire my uncle – who’s pushing 90 and knows the name of maybe five NFL teams, by the way – as offensive coordinator. I’ll pass these ideas along.

John: It’s fair for an observer to feel this way – and a lot indeed looked familiar on Sunday. And a lot in the Jaguars’ two losses has looked familiar. But a lot about the season has looked unfamiliar, too – the blowout victories, the playmaking defense, the grit and guts to rally on the road Sunday. The Jaguars needed to close Sunday to make the grit and guts of the fourth quarter matter. They clearly believed in the locker room that the grit and guts will remain and that this is more the grit and guts team than the team that looked too familiar. They must prove they’re not that familiar team. That’s the task that lies ahead.

John: I got a lot of versions of this question and it was understandably a major topic after the game Sunday. Both Head Coach Doug Marrone and quarterback Blake Bortles said the approach near the goal line was because they believed the Jets’ philosophy on the goal line was to not only stack the line but call a lot of run blitzes. It indeed is a low-percentage proposition to run into the teeth of a defense taking that approach – yes, even when you’re a run-first team with a No. 4-drafted running back. Now, it turned out that the Jets didn’t play that way in those situations. So, maybe the run would have worked. And those are certainly plays the Jaguars would have liked to have had back. But in this case it wasn’t “playcalling” at issue as much as miscalculating the opponent’s approach. Either way, the Jets won that one. No doubt.

John: Well, I suppose it’s nice to be loved.

John: Running 24 times and getting targeted five more times. And taking heavy contact and punishment pretty much that many times, too.

John: On October 2? With the Jaguars at 2-2? No.

John: You’re talking about fourth-and-3 from the Jets 43 with 5:19 remaining in overtime. The Jaguars played percentages there. The defense was getting the Jets off the field and the feel of the game told you that if you punted you had a high percentage chance of getting the ball back in good field position. The defense did its job and the Jets punted from their 25. Where it went awry for the Jaguars was that the punt was a 70-yarder – and that wide receiver Marqise Lee misplayed the punt. And that wide receiver Arrelious Benn got called for a penalty. You don’t anticipate as a coach that you’re going to lose 70 yards of field position on a punt. That’s game-changing stuff, and it sure changed the same on Sunday.

John: Ugh.