Jaguars QB Blake Bortles takes center stage

The 2018 playoffs began with the expected quick exit of the Jacksonville Jaguars and an address change for quarterback Blake Bortles.

But the Jags are here.

What’s here? The AFC Championship Game where the Jaguars will visit the New England Patriots on Sunday.

And while Tom Brady wasn’t around for a news conference on Wednesday to get treatment on his right hand, there was Bortles, the quarterback everyone wants to get rid of, standing with a red backdrop talking about being one game away from the Super Bowl.

“He’s a good player,” Jaguars safety Barry Church said of Bortles. “A lot of people think he’s riding the coat tails of a great defense, he played well and he came out here (in the Steelers victory) and showed in the biggest moments he can play well. He pretty much exposed their defense to what they are, not that good and he did what he was able to do.”

The struggles of the Jaguars’ offense, especially in the AFC wild card win over the Bills, when Bortles had more rushing than passing yards, prompted some to think Eli Manning would take over for the Jags in 2018.

The link between Manning and Jags VP of personnel Tom Coughlin, a former Giants coach, who won two Super Bowls with him, is strong.

Now?

Bortles is just two victories away from bringing the first championship to a Jaguars franchise with a talented defense, strong running game in a season many thought wouldn’t happen.

The criticism was so heavy on Bortles, former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer called him the worst QB in the NFL.

It wasn’t without merit.

Bortles was a 2014 first-round pick, third overall from Central Florida. In his first three seasons, Bortles was 11-34 as a starter but this season he went 10-6 and completed a career-high 60.2 percent of his passes.

The Jaguars reached the postseason as the No. 3 seed and knocked off the Bills in an ugly AFC wild card game. But Bortles led the Jags to an AFC divisional round upset of the Steelers last week where he threw for just 214 yards and one touchdown and connected on passes to nine different targets. Dilfer apologized for his comments about Bortles. Maybe more apologies are forthcoming.

“I could care less, everybody has their own opinion,” Bortles said Wednesday. “They’re entitled to voice it if they want to. It’s not going to bother me. I think for him to, I couldn’t even tell you what he said, make a point to care and apologize, I thought that was pretty cool. It didn’t change my view point of him one way or another. He’s got a job to do and things to report on and all that. I don’t take any of that stuff personally. I appreciate the gesture definitely.”

And if people don’t believe in Bortles, someone created a twitter account @Bortlesfacts where it’s accumulated 77,000 plus followers. One such tweet read: Super Bowl losses Tom Brady 2. Blake Bortles 0.

“It’s awesome, it’s pretty funny,” Bortles said.

Bortles might be celebrating Sunday with a confident Jaguars team where cornerback Jalen Ramsey guaranteed would beat the Patriots.

If so it might give him some satisfaction.

“The one thing about Blake that I know is that he doesn’t change, you know what I’m saying, from that regard,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. “He understands that as well as we all do that you are going to be judged on your performance, and we’re going to have to go out there and play well.”