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Blake Bortles is not playing good football right now. His third consecutive disastrous game was finally enough to get him benched Sunday, but the Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t stick with that for long. Bortles is back in the starting lineup for a Week 8 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I spoke to both quarterbacks this afternoon and told them that Blake will be our team’s starting quarterback,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said Monday. “I believe this gives us the best opportunity to win.”
That’s not saying much considering Bortles has completed 54.5 percent of his passes so far in October with two touchdowns, five interceptions, and three fumbles. That’s a 60.2 passer rating this month compared to the 93.6 rating he put up in September.
On the other hand, Bortles in London is a different animal. He won’t have a long leash for the Week 8 game at Wembley Stadium, but if he plays at all like his last three trips overseas, the Jaguars will be just fine.
Blake Bortles was benched Sunday, but next week the Jaguars head overseas. London Bortles has been tough to beat in recent years.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 21, 2018
Blake Bortles Last 3 Seasons in London
W-L 3-0
Team PPG 36.0
TD-Int 8-1 pic.twitter.com/ySCPfO1MsM
In the Jaguars’ most recent trip to London, Bortles threw 244 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 44-7 win against the Ravens.
He’s such a different player in the United Kingdom that it doesn’t feel right to keep calling him Blake Bortles next week. Bloke Bortles? London Broitles? Blake Chortles? Is “chortles” even a British enough word to count?
Or maybe he’ll just be the same ol’ Blake Bortles who tanked a 3-1 start for the Jaguars and got benched for Cody Kessler. That wouldn’t be surprising considering the luck of NFL fans in London.
Before the exciting end to the Chargers’ 20-19 win against the Titans in Week 7, the five previous games in London were decided by at least 17 points. The NFL did them a solid by booking a matchup at Wembley between two of the best teams in the league, the Eagles and Jaguars. Now they’re both 3-4 and it’s a battle of desperation between two teams trying to avoid a hole they can’t climb out of.
It’s up to unlikely London superhero Bloke Bortles to come to the rescue.