Bortles and the Jaguars had a 3–1 start to the season. Between sub-200 yard games in Week 1 and Week 3, Bortles faced the New England Patriots in 97-degree heat and finished with 377 passing yards, four touchdowns, and an interception in the 31–20 victory. In Week 4, he passed for 388 yards in a 31–12 win over the Jets. In the next game, he recorded a career-high 430 passing yards and a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, he also threw four interceptions and took five sacks in the 30–14 road loss. The following week against the Dallas Cowboys, Bortles threw for 149 yards, a touchdown, and an interception to Jeff Heath in triple coverage in a 40–7 road loss. During Week 7 against the Houston Texans, he lost a fumble on the opening possessions of each half. Bortles was benched for Cody Kessler after he lost the second fumble, finishing the day with a career-low 61 yards on 12 attempts. At the time, the Jaguars had the league's second-best defense but had lost three games in a row; Bortles was tied for second-worst in the league with four sub-200 yard passing games, third-worst with eight interceptions, and seventh-worst with five fumbles. Nevertheless, head coach Doug Marrone elected to leave Bortles as the starter for the Week 8 matchup in London against the Philadelphia Eagles. He fumbled the opening snap, but played through a shoulder injury to finish with 286 yards and a touchdown. He led the Jaguars on three straight scoring drives late in the game to draw within six points before completing just two of his last nine passes in the 18—24 loss. After a Week 9 bye, the Jaguars went on the road to face the Indianapolis Colts. Bortles finished the game with 320 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 10 of 11 passes for two scoring drives to open the second half, and a drive to the 23 yard line in the waning moments of the 4th quarter before a Rashad Greene fumble allowed the Colts to kneel out the clock and preserve a 29-26 victory. In the next game, Bortles completed 10 of 18 passes for a career-fourth-worst 104 yards in a 20-16 loss to the Steelers. The following week, he completed 12 of 23 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions in a 21–24 road loss to the Buffalo Bills. The next day, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone announced that Bortles would be benched in favor of Cody Kessler for the Week 13 matchup against the Colts. He was then 30th of 34 qualified quarterbacks in completion percentage, quarterback rating, and yards-per-attempt, and second-worst only to Oakland's Derek Carr with eight losses. In Week 16 against the Miami Dolphins, Bortles entered the game in relief of a struggling Kessler in the late second quarter, was promptly sacked on third down, benched, then reentered the game in the late third quarter where he completed five of six passes for 39 yards and rushed four times for 26 yards to help lead the Jaguars to a 17–7 victory. Bortles started the season finale against the Texans, but was ineffective with just 107 yards and an interception on 28 attempts. On the season, in Bortles' 13 appearances for the Jaguars, he compiled a 4–9 record, and was 22nd of 25 players with at least 13 appearances in completion percentage (60.3%), yards (2,718), yards per game (209.1), touchdowns (13), and 23rd in passer rating (79.8); his 11 interceptions ranked 15th. His 357 rushing yards was sixth among quarterbacks.
Blake Bortles Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family
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