Factoid

September 23, 2014

Blake Bortles

Jaguars new quarterback is a gunner

The Jaguars are going with Blake Bortles at quarterback. It’s early, but I like his ability to get the ball downfield.

With most young quarterbacks, they’re kind of playing scared. They’re just looking to get the ball out of their hands and settle for short completions. They’ll gladly complete a 5-yard pass on third-and-13 and tort off the field.

With Bortles, he’s gunning it downfield. He’s not afraid of making mistakes. So he’s making a lot more big plays than the typical young quarterback.

I noticed this in the preseason. He averaged 16.3 yards per completion – best of every quarterback in the league.

And now that he’s playing in the real games, it’s starting to resurface again. He’s played only a half of football, but he’s averaging 15.9 yards per completion. Of the 37 other quarterbacks who’ve attempted at least 20 passes, none of them have averaged more than 13.2 yards per completion. The rookie quarterback who’s played the most, Derek Carr, is one of those just-hope-I-survive guys; he’s down at 8.6 yards per completion.

Strategically, this might not be a good idea. In trying the harder throws, Bortles probably won’t have a great completion percentage. He’ll get sacked more often, and he’ll throw more interceptions. Sometimes it’s smarter to just get the ball out of your hands.

But I like it. This stat – the idea of tracking yards per completion – was one I first started paying attention to about 10 years back with Ben Roethlisberger. He graded out really high in that area. And more so than any other quarterback, he’s the guy that Bortles tends to get compared to.

YARDS PER COMPLETION -- REGULAR SEASON
Rk	Player	Com	Yards	YPC
1	Blake Bortles	14	223	15.93
2	Ryan Fitzpatrick	48	634	13.21
3	Andy Dalton	55	722	13.13
4	Nick Foles	75	978	13.04
5	Kirk Cousins	52	677	13.02
6	Drew Stanton	32	411	12.84
7	Matt Ryan	76	965	12.70
8	Carson Palmer	24	304	12.67
9	Teddy Bridgewater	12	150	12.50
10	Matthew Stafford	71	883	12.44
11	Jake Locker	57	685	12.02
12	Brian Hoyer	61	716	11.74
13	Chad Henne	42	492	11.71
14	Ben Roethlisberger	67	778	11.61
15	Philip Rivers	67	778	11.61
16	Cam Newton	46	531	11.54
17	Tony Romo	60	674	11.23
18	EJ Manuel	55	613	11.15
19	Austin Davis	68	754	11.09
20	Peyton Manning	74	814	11.00
21	Geno Smith	65	713	10.97
22	Aaron Rodgers	64	697	10.89
23	Russell Wilson	60	651	10.85
24	Jay Cutler	70	750	10.71
25	Derek Anderson	29	310	10.69
26	Andrew Luck	86	912	10.60
27	Colin Kaepernick	66	694	10.52
28	Drew Brees	83	863	10.40
29	Eli Manning	65	674	10.37
30	Matt Cassel	41	425	10.37
31	Alex Smith	64	643	10.05
32	Robert Griffin III	31	305	9.84
33	Josh McCown	43	420	9.77
34	Joe Flacco	75	728	9.71
35	Tom Brady	67	632	9.43
36	Ryan Tannehill	70	624	8.91
37	Derek Carr	68	588	8.65
38	Mike Glennon	17	121	7.12

YARDS PER COMPLETION -- PRESEASON
Rk	Player	Com	Yards	YPC
1	Blake Bortles	32	521	16.28
2	T.J. Yates	28	438	15.64
3	Colt McCoy	32	496	15.50
4	Brock Osweiler	29	423	14.59
5	Zach Mettenberger	47	659	14.02
6	Austin Davis	39	534	13.69
7	Jimmy Garoppolo	46	618	13.43
8	Ryan Nassib	44	588	13.36
9	Kellen Clemens	33	441	13.36
10	Joe Webb	29	387	13.34
11	Russell Wilson	33	437	13.24
12	Scott Tolzien	38	477	12.55
13	Matt McGloin	38	471	12.39
14	Matt Moore	30	368	12.27
15	Matt Barkley	41	495	12.07
16	Joe Flacco	29	345	11.90
17	Brandon Weeden	34	388	11.41
18	Jay Cutler	28	317	11.32
19	Mike Glennon	24	271	11.29
20	Matt Simms	29	323	11.14
21	Ryan Griffin	48	530	11.04
22	Brian Hoyer	24	261	10.88
23	Derek Carr	30	326	10.87
24	Kirk Cousins	35	370	10.57
25	Seth Lobato	26	271	10.42
26	Ryan Tannehill	28	291	10.39
27	EJ Manuel	50	516	10.32
28	Kellen Moore	35	361	10.31
29	Sean Renfree	27	278	10.30
30	Johnny Manziel	30	296	9.87
31	Dan Orlovsky	36	355	9.86
32	Tyrod Taylor	35	345	9.86
33	Peyton Manning	43	423	9.84
34	Jason Campbell	26	253	9.73
35	Dustin Vaughan	22	212	9.64
36	Teddy Bridgewater	30	283	9.43
37	Andrew Luck	26	245	9.42
38	Logan Thomas	22	207	9.41
39	Eli Manning	20	188	9.40
40	Ryan Fitzpatrick	25	232	9.28
41	Luke McCown	26	240	9.23
42	Alex Smith	31	286	9.23
43	Nick Foles	33	304	9.21
44	Matt Schaub	24	218	9.08
45	Chandler Harnish	32	283	8.84
46	Blaine Gabbert	22	186	8.45
47	Landry Jones	27	224	8.30
48	Jeff Tuel	29	236	8.14

—Ian Allan

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