Blake Bortles ‘just tweaking things’ as Jaguars’ QB prepares for the season

Blake Bortles sees his game evolving.

Before last season, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ quarterback had to do a major overhaul of his mechanics. The repairs paid off in helping Bortles lead the Jaguars all the way to the AFC Championship Game.

‘Last year, it was kind of, mechanics fell apart’

Through the offseason and during the Jaguars’ training camp this summer, Bortles has been able to concentrate more on smaller, but no less important, details to sharpen his play even further. He and the Jaguars, who face the Minnesota Vikings in a preseason game Saturday, are hoping for an even larger pay off this season.

“Last year, it was kind of, mechanics fell apart and there were some things we wanted to tighten up and make (me) more of just an efficient thrower and find a way to get it consistent,” Bortles told Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt during the SiriusXM NFL Radio training-camp tour stop at the Jaguars’ facility. “And that kind of held through the course of last season. So going into this offseason it was good, because you could kind of work on some different things, kind of some intricacies and just tweaking things rather than trying to make major changes.

Benefitting from wrist surgery

“And so I thought that was really good as far as creating that consistency and that efficiency of throwing the football where you want to throw it.”

Bortles’ performance figures to be additionally boosted by the surgery he underwent on his right (throwing) wrist in January to correct an issue that lingered throughout last season.

‘There’s a difference between toughness and stupidity’

“It feels good,” Bortles said. “I’ve always said, if you’re going to play injured, you’d better be able to play better than the guy that can play behind you healthy. There’s a difference between toughness and stupidity. I think that’s kind of a fine line.

“But I felt good. I got some (pain-killing) shots (last season) and was ready to go. I think getting that surgery and getting it taken care of, it felt good. I’ve said earlier, first time in two years throwing a ball pain free feels pretty awesome, so it feels good to go out and throw it around and not have to worry about anything structurally (being wrong).”