Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Playing 'like Tom Brady'? Not quite, but confident Blake Bortles on roll

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles wanted to talk about the receivers, the offensive line and running back Leonard Fournette.

Everyone else, however, wanted to talk about Bortles and what he’s done the past two weeks, especially throwing for 268 yards and two touchdowns in the Jaguars’ 30-24 victory over Seattle at EverBank Field.

“These last couple of games he’s playing amazing,” defensive end Calais Campbell said. “He looks like Tom Brady these last couple games. I know Tom Brady does it all the time, but these last couple games, Blake was out there leading the team, playing confident and having fun.”

Campbell was more than a little over the top there, but Bortles has been really good the past two weeks: 577 yards, 71 percent completions, four touchdowns, no interceptions and zero sacks. He ripped through Indianapolis and its beat-up secondary on Dec. 3 but was even more impressive against Seattle.

Granted, the Seahawks were without cornerback Richard Sherman, safety Kam Chancellor and defensive end Cliff Avril. Even though linebackers K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner were injured during the game and did not return, that was essentially the same lineup that held Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz to just 10 points last weekend.

Bortles completed 18 of 27 passes, and two of the incompletions were drops by James O'Shaughnessy and Marcedes Lewis. He had three completions of 20 or more yards, including a 75-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Cole one play after Seattle tied the game at 10 on Doug Baldwin’s touchdown catch.

That was a moment that gets forgotten in the wake of the victory and the events at the end of the game, but it was perhaps the most critical throw he made over the past two weeks. It answered a Seahawks score, gave the Jaguars the lead for good and flipped the momentum.

“Blake is balling,” cornerback Jalen Ramsey said. “We know who our quarterback is, and we know what he’s been doing, week in and week out, helping us get victories.

“That was a huge play.”

Bortles was more concerned with spreading credit than taking any himself, even though this was his seventh interception-free game of the season (his previous best in a season was six last season).

“I felt as though I put our offense in a chance to score points,” Bortles said. “Obviously, not turning the ball over is a big part of that. There will be plays that were bad that we have to get corrected, but there were a lot of plays made out there by the wide receivers, running backs and the offensive line that were pretty awesome.”

That might be true, but as good as the defense has been and as effectively as they have run the ball, whether the Jaguars make a run in the playoff depends on how well Bortles plays. If he continues to play the way he has the past two weeks, they could be around for a while.

Then everybody will be talking about him.

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