JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles has thrown a lot of interceptions in his career, so he was the natural person to ask about Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer, who has thrown a lot of interceptions in his career, too.
What kind of advice would Bortles give to Kizer, who has an NFL-high 12 interceptions in just eight games this season?
“Try to throw it to your team as much as possible,” Bortles joked. “It’s tough. I’ve done it [thrown a lot of interceptions] and I’ve done it for a couple years. I think any quarterback will tell you that’s the biggest thing.”
Bortles has thrown 58 interceptions in 55 games since he entered the league in 2014. The only player who has thrown more interceptions in that span is Philip Rivers (59). The only reason Rivers has a lead? Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye picked him off in overtime in the Jaguars’ victory over the Los Angeles Chargers this past Sunday.
Kizer, by the way, is actually ahead of Bortles’ pace. If he were to maintain his average of 1.5 interceptions per game, Kizer will have 83 by his 55th career game.
Bortles has thrown seven interceptions in nine games this season, including two in the final two minutes of regulation against the Chargers. The first was a bad decision -- he tried to squeeze a pass into Allen Hurns on a second-and-4 play instead of throwing the ball away. The second was a bad throw. He overthrew Marqise Lee deep in Chargers territory.
Bad decisions and inaccurate throws have been his two biggest issues since he stepped on the field in the second half of the Jaguars’ Week 3 loss to Indianapolis in 2014.
“You watch guys every week that have been playing the NFL for a long time and still kind of make bad decisions and bad throws, so it’s something that it’s a constant battle,” Bortles said. “The great ones are the ones that do it as little as possible and that’s why they’re so great. I think everybody is trying to eliminate the turnovers and kind of get rid of that.”