Marrone on Bortles: "Another really good game"

Dec 10, 2017 at 03:22 PM

JACKSONVILLE – Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone summed up his quarterback's day quickly.

"Blake had another really good game," Marrone said.

Quarterback Blake Bortles and the Jaguars' young group of wide receivers had a second huge game in as many weeks Sunday, with Bortles throwing for 268 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the Jaguars' 30-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at EverBank Field Sunday afternoon.

"Blake has come out and done one hell of a job throwing like he did," Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson said.

Bortles, who had one of the most efficient games of his career last week in a victory over Indianapolis, was not sacked Sunday. He completed 14 passes to wide receivers Sunday, including two of the Jaguars' most important pass plays of the season.

Both of those plays came in the third quarter.

The first: an 18-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Dede Westbrook that gave the Jaguars a 10-0 lead on the Jaguars' first drive of the half.

The second: a 75-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Keelan Cole that gave the Jaguars a 17-10 lead after the Seahawks had scored 10 points on back-to-back possessions immediately following Bortles' touchdown pass to Westbrook.

"We repped it a couple times during the week," Bortles said of the pass to Cole. "I think it was the first play of practice on Wednesday and I threw a pick on it and we changed up the read on it and said, 'We're going to throw this ball to Keelan no matter what. If it's not open, check it down.' He ran an unbelievable route and obviously ran away from everyone."

The Jaguars never relinquished the lead after Bortles' touchdown pass to Cole.

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"We knew we were going to have to score points," Bortles said. "I think guys did a really good job of when [Seattle] made big plays and scored touchdowns. No one got down or hung their head or anything. That's fine, we knew we could go back out and score again so it was alright.

"We've said it all year long: 'There's going to come a time when we're going to have to find a way to win offensively.'''

Westbrook, playing in his fourth NFL game after missing the first nine games of the season following core muscle surgery in September, caught five passes for 81 yards.

"We just worked at it throughout the week in practice," Westbrook said. "[Wide Receivers' Coach (Keenan) McCardell was telling us 'You guys, this is going to be open, this is going to be open, just run your route accordingly and Blake is going to find you' and we did just that and we came out victorious."

Veteran Marqise Lee caught five passes for 65 yards and Cole finished with three receptions for 99 yards.

NOTABLE

The Jaguars' victory Sunday not only moved them into sole possession of first place in the AFC South with three games remaining, it assured the Jaguars of their first winning season since 2007. "We can celebrate it tonight and then we'll get to work tomorrow." Bortles said.

QUOTABLE I

"It felt kind of like what you would think about when you think about meaningful December football. I think that's what it was. It was a playoff-type atmosphere against a good team, under the lights in front of your home crowd. There's not a whole lot more you can ask for. To go out there and be able to perform like that in front of Jacksonville in our stadium was pretty special."

--Bortles

QUOTABLE II

"I think [the "chippiness" in Jaguars games this season] is a little bit of [an attitude change]. I think it's a little bit of people aren't used to getting beat like that by the Jaguars. … There is no reason to take anything from anybody: We just beat the crap out of you for 60 minutes. I think obviously you have to be smart and understand the situation and what is going on and not do anything stupid. I think this team definitely plays with a little bit of an edge."

--Bortles

QUOTABLE III

"We play like the dogs play, for sure. We really should have blown them out if I'm being real about it. No disrespect to them: they're a good team. But toward the end of the game, we started __ on the defensive end of the ball. They got some long touchdowns. They did a good job and made it a good game for us to have to refocus."

--Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey

QUOTABLE IV

"It just shows we have true grit. I said we had grit at the beginning of the year and we keep getting tested. I think that is the good challenge of a playoff team. We get tested with the best teams of the NFL coming into your house or you're going to them."

--Jaguars DT Malik Jackson

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