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 While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was throwing for
370 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-17 rout of Jacksonville,
Jaguars' first-round pick Bortles finally saw some game action. It
took head coach Gus Bradley all of 10 quarters to bench starter Chad
Henne and insert the third pick in his past year's draft.
Indianapolis scored on all six of its first-half possessions in
racing to a 30-point lead with Luck being near-perfect. He completed
22 of 27 passes, including 13 in a row at one point.
On the other hand, Henne continued to be inept. In 30 possessions
with Henne under center, the Jaguars scored one touchdown. Bradley
benched Henne at halftime and inserted Bortles to start the third
quarter.
Henne said afterward that the starting job now belongs to Bortles.
"Oh absolutely," the seven-year veteran said. "He was drafted for
this moment and I understood it from day one. We had to do some
really good things at the beginning of the year to keep my job. I
hope he plays really well and I'm really pulling for him. I'm going
to be his biggest cheerleader on the sidelines."
After the game, Bradley said Bortles would get the start next week
against San Diego. Bortles finished Sunday's game completing 14 of
24 passes for 223 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Henne
was just 4-of-7 for 33 yards and led the Jaguars to just two first
downs in the first half.
"I thought Blake did a nice job. He's going to learn but he made
some plays," Bradley said. "He kept plays alive and he's got really
good instincts and made some really good decisions and some good
throws. I just love his mindset, I love the strength that he has. He
is a tough, hard-nosed competitor and he will attack.
"The team felt that part of it and I think it's no coincidence that
all of a sudden we blocked a little bit better, the receivers played
a little bit better. (Blake) has a way to uplift people and uplift
the team."
Luck finished 31 of 39 for 370 yards. All of four of his touchdown
passes were short completions of less than 10 yards. The scoring
went to different receivers -- Ahmad Bradshaw, Dwayne Allen, Coby
Fleener and Hakeem Nicks.
"It was better than the first two games, that's for sure," Luck said
of his performance. "It was much improved on putting two halves
together, the nature of how the game went and what was open. I do
think we had chances to go down the field and we took advantage of
that.
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"We did a good job of taking care of the football and didn't have
too many penalties."
Indianapolis also got three field goals from Adam Vinatieri in the
first half from 48, 43 and 25 yards.
With Bortles in control, the Jaguars got on the scoreboard midway in
the third quarter when Josh Scobee converted a 41-yard field goal.
Bortles' first touchdown pass came on a 63-yard completion to rookie
wide receiver Allen Hurns, who broke a pair of tackles at midfield
to complete the long scoring play. The second touchdown was a
10-yard toss to Cecil Shorts with 18 seconds left in the game.
Bortles also showed his inexperience as he had two passes
intercepted, including one by Greg Toler who returned it 47 yards
for Indianapolis' final score.
Asked to assess his first-ever performance in the regular season,
Bortles said he was just average.
"I mean I thought there was some good stuff and there was some bad
stuff we need to connect," he said. "There are definitely some
things we'll see on film I need to work on. You can't throw two
picks.
"It was definitely good to go out there and not be like, 'Oh my God,
what am I doing here?' It was good to get out there and get that
experience."
NOTES: The Jaguars gave up a franchise-record 30 points in the first
half. ... After recording just one sack in their first two games,
the Colts sacked Jags starting quarterback Chad Henne three times in
the first half and Blake Bortles once in the second half. ...
Indianapolis has scored at least 30 points in each of its last three
games against the Jaguars, outscoring them by a 111-30 margin.
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