Jacksonville at San Diego: 3 Thing We Learned

Don’t blame this one on rookie mistakes. This loss for the Jacksonville Jaguars turns to the defense and the inability to stop Philip Rivers.

For 30 minutes, rookie Blake Bortles used a short passing game and a partially alive running game to go into the half down only by the score of 17-14. There was hope and a belief that if the team and the fans back home could believe in the rookie, good things can happen.

But as we all know, there are two halves to play in a football game. Blake Bortles won the battle of getting through his first game with a modicum of success. Philip Rivers won the war, which meant another victory in the win column. And while the Jaguars used the second half of last week’s 44-17 loss to Washington as an audition for Bortles’ coming out party, this week was exiting and aggravating at the same time.

Here are three things we learned on Sunday.

CRY ME A RIVERS

The San Diego quarterback proved he is a top 10 quarterback in this league. The veteran overcame early opposition from the Jaguars defense (yes, they played well in the first half of the game). Then he took command of the game.

Rivers had at least 3 Pass TD in a game for the eighth time in the last two seasons, the second-most such games in the NFL behind Peyton Manning (13). He also was 4-of 4 with two touchdowns on throws traveling 15 or more yards downfield, including 3-of-3 targeting Eddie Royal. The last time Rivers had more than 4 deep completions in a game was Week 9 of last season (5 vs Redskins).

BORTLES WAS REAL

How can you be disappointed with the performance of Blake Bortles? In his first start of his NFL career, Bortles was 29 of 37 for 253 yards and a score. Yes, he had two interceptions, but the rookie was poised in and out of the pocket in the first half, moving around to create opportunities for his receivers. The athleticism allowed the team to show more pep in the running game, which scored its first touchdown since November of last years.

A striking blow to the team is Cecil Shorts appears to have aggravated his hamstring again on a post pattern in the second half.

SECONDARY CONCERNS

Please do not blame all of the Jaguars’ secondary issues on Dwayne Gratz being injured in this game or the fact the defense made lineup changes during the week to hopefully bring about better play. The first half, it looked as though it was working. The second half was a whole other story.

Rivers took advantage of a struggling Jaguars secondary to complete 29 of 39 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns.

The Chargers outgained the Jaguars 407-319 and had 19 first downs to 21 for the Jaguars.