Extra Points: The bridge to Bortles is sound for now

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Politicians like to hammer home a point by developing what they feel is a catchy phrase and repeating it ad nauseam.

It’s a nod to the least common denominator and the so-called low-information voter, a group which often decides national elections. And while that kind of strategy does show a tremendous lack of respect for their constituents, no one really thinks politicians are wrong, it’s just part of the process to win elections.

Bill Clinton used to like to throw out “building a bridge to the 21st century,” a laughable idiom with no real ideology or substance behind it. It sounded really good, though, and the Democrat party still refers to the ex- president as its top communicator and perhaps best pure politician of the modern generation.

A real bridge, of course, leads from one place to another like the Verrazano?Narrows which connects Staten Island to Brooklyn in New York or the Walt Whitman here in the City of Brotherly Love, which spans over the Delaware River to allow people to get from South Philadelphia to South Jersey.

There was another kind of bridge on display in Philly during Week 1 of the NFL season, however, and it wasn’t the overmatched Platt Bridge, another structure near Lincoln Financial Field which never seems to be able to handle the congestion an Eagles game produces.

It was the most famous bridge in all of Jacksonville.

No, the Jags didn’t pack up the Dames Point Bridge and bring it north — it was Chad Henne, the caretaker of the Jaguars until head coach Gus Bradley and general manager Dave Caldwell believe Blake Bortles, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, is ready to handle the rigors of the NFL.

The “bridge quarterback” is a new term or an old philosophy, let the young kid learn football’s most difficult position behind the heady veteran.

Bortles was one of three No. 1 draft picks at the QB position sitting in Week 1 behind veteran starters but the only Padawan who actually outperformed his Jedi in the preseason.

Teddy Bridgewater played well in Minnesota but the somewhat proven Matt Cassel was even better in his exhibition outings, while Johnny Manziel, who is behind journeyman Brian Hoyer in Cleveland, is sitting because he just didn’t take his new profession seriously enough in his first offseason.

Bortles, on the other hand, did everything his organization asked and more, clearly outplaying Henne, who has enough NFL starts to accurately predict what he is, a middle-of-the-road signal caller with a limited ceiling as a player.

That Henne was on display in a 34-17 Jags’ setback to the Eagles on Sunday, performing well in the first 30 minutes before imploding in the second half.

Henne, a Philadelphia-area native, finished 24-of-43 for 266 yards and two touchdowns with an above average 89.9 passer rating, better than his counterpart, Nick Foles, who led the NFL in passer rating last year but finished with a 87.5 mark in Week 1.

It was a tale to two halves, though, for Henne as he hooked up with undrafted rookie Allen Hurns for two touchdowns as the Jags stunned the heavily-favored Eagles, building a 17-0 lead at intermission.

“We came out and jumped on them,” Jags defensive end Chris Clemons said. “Our pass rush was really, really good in the first quarter and first half. We had momentum.”

That momentum sagged after Philadelphia was serenaded by boo birds on its way to the locker room. Despite being down two injured offensive lineman, the Eagles responded by scoring 34 unanswered points to win going away and send Jacksonville back to the Sunshine State at 0-1.

“We couldn’t play a much worse first half,” Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “However, we were fortunate enough to score points and win the game. I think if you’re going to win a lot of games during the year, there is maybe a day or two like this when if you’re a team developing into a good team, you get it done. We were fortunate to do it today.”

Henne probably played well enough to win but he was hurt by a series of dropped passes and once the Jags lost the lead it was painfully obvious they just didn’t have the horses to challenge the Eagles defense, or any other for that matter, outside the numbers.

“Give Philadelphia credit,” Henne said. “At the same time we need to execute better and we will like the results. We left some plays on the field.”

“I am not sure (what happened),” Hurns added. “They were running a lot of man coverage (in the second half), the safety was over the top a bit more, but I think as a team we have to finish. It’s a lot of things we left out on the field that we can improve on.”

And that’s where Bortles and his special arm talent will eventually come in but don’t think this collapse sped up things, at least exponentially.

The Jags are painfully aware of the fact you can lose a young quarterback mentally if you pull the trigger on them too soon. Even though neither Bradley or Caldwell was with the organization when it drafted Blaine Gabbert with the 10th overall pick in 2011, they were around to see the shaken Mizzou product’s career fall apart once his confidence was shattered.

There was no talk of making the move to Bortles after the disappointing setback, just the lamenting of missed opportunities.

“Football is a precise game,” Bradley said. “Everything flipped in the second half. Miscommunication led to big plays. We need to be more refined and we will get there.”

Jacksonville hardly wants a repeat of the Gabbert scenario and that’s the reason it will stick to its original plan despite the siren song of Bortles’ potential.

“Good,” is how Bradley described Henne’s performance on Sunday.

“There were some balls that we maybe could have done better for him with the receivers, but then there’s some decisions he could have made,” the coach continued. “Without going and looking at the tape, I thought he executed fairly well and did a nice job. We wanted him to take some shots and get some explosive plays and he did that. I think he was efficient on that end.”

The truth is the Jaguars are just not ready to compete at a high level on a consistent basis no matter who is under center. The talent is just not there yet, and that has been accentuated by the fact Justin Blackmon can’t stop smoking weed and Cecil Shorts III came up lame with a hamstring before the season opener.

The plan going forward is to allow Bortles to take a limited number of first- team reps in practice while continuing to press how important his off-the- field work with offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch is.

“We can definitely learn from this,” Hurns said of his team’s loss. “You can see the defense is doing a great job creating turnovers, the offense is moving the ball well. So, I feel as long as we learn from this things will get better.”

For now that will have to do.

Categorized in: NFL

Tags: Eagles, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jaguars, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Eagles