COMMENTARY

Jags take 2 steps back after Week 1 leap

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Contrary to what you may have heard, the Jaguars' home opener was not a complete disaster.

For one thing, nobody drowned in the vat of mayonnaise that was in the EverBank Field parking lot.

And if you looked hard enough, you could see traces of improvement from last year.

Otherwise, sheesh.

Just when you thought it was safe to get slightly excited about the Jaguars, they turned back into the team we all know and boo.

And just like old times, the issues start at quarterback.

The 37-16 loss to Tennessee wasn't all Blake Bortles' fault. But the Titans showed how fragile Jacksonville's formula for success is.

A good defense and grinding running game will take you only so far.

On Sunday, it took Jaguars to a manageable 6-3 halftime deficit.

"I thought we had a good plan," Bortles said. "I thought we did some good things in the first half with the running game. But you get down a certain point and you've got to abandon the running game."

That abandonment began when Bortles threw a pass behind Marqise Lee, who reached back and knocked the ball into the air. It landed in the welcoming arms of Tennessee's Da'Norris Searcy.

The Titans kicked a field goal. Jacksonville went three-and-out. The punt was returned 46 yards.

Two plays later, Derrick Henry rambled in from 17 yards out. It was 16-3, but it might as well have been 160-3.

Bortles' stats weren't awful (20 of 34 for 223 yards), but most of that came in junk time. His QB rating midway through the third quarter was 13.6.

Credit the Titans, who didn't look much like the team that lost to Oakland in Week 1. And the Jaguars sure didn't look like the team that rolled Houston 29-7.

That had people seriously thinking the Jags could bolt to a 2-0 record and take early command of the AFC South.

They saw signs like the 10 sacks and ignored the fact most came against a quarterback named Tom Savage. They saw rookie Leonard Fournette do his imitation of a Sherman tank and gain 100 yards.

But mostly they saw Bortles throw 21 dink-and-dunk passes. He also didn't throw an interception or get sacked.

That had happened just once before in his four-year NFL career. Put all those signs together, and it was enough to make grown men dive into that vat of mayonnaise.

Actually, it was a kiddie pool full of the white stuff. It glowed for hours in the 87-degree sunlight, so you certainly wouldn't have wanted to make a tuna sandwich out of it.

But the mayo literally made a splash with tailgaters, who came hoping to see the Jaguars start 2-0 for the first time since 2006.

Next time, hold the mayo and the optimism.

"It's tough," Bortles said. "You're going to have adversity, but you have to take a loss and learn from it."

Here's what we learned Sunday:

• Jacksonville's defense would much rather face Tom Savage than Marcus Mariota.

• Fournette is 22, but he's going to feel like he's 92 by the end of the season.

• Sloppy play (10 penalties for 99 yards on Sunday) is going to kill the Jags.

• Bortles is going to miss Allen Robinson, who is out for the year with a torn ACL.

The ultimate lesson is that Jacksonville has almost no room for error.

Its defense is going to have to be dominant. Defenses are going to key on Fournette, who needed to break about 40 tackles to gain his 40 yards on Sunday.

That means the quarterback is eventually going to have to do more than hand off and try not to screw up.

The plan might work some weeks. But like mixing tuna fish with warm mayonnaise, it's usually a recipe for disaster.

Sports on 09/19/2017

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