Jacksonville Jaguars

Blake Bortles vs Derek Carr: Week 1 analysis

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Blake Bortles and Derek Carr are two of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL and there a friendly rivalry between the two may be among the best to watch.

With Teddy Bridgewater out for either most of the season or all of it and Sam Bradford entrenched as the quarterback for the foreseeable future, the comparison of the best quarterbacks from the 2014 NFL Draft falls to just Blake Bortles of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders.

Both players are working to resurrect their respective franchises. The Raiders haven’t had a winning season since 2002, when they lost the Super Bowl. Only a pair of 8-8 seasons in 2010 and 2011 have kept hope alive.

The Jaguars are in a similar rut. Since 2007 the team hasn’t managed a winning season, despite being in the playoffs that year. They had an 8-8 season in 2010 but haven’t had better than five wins in the years since then.

Bortles was the first quarterback off the board in 2014 and Carr had to wait until the second round to have his name called. Since then, we at B&T have been keeping tabs on the budding stars. With Bridgewater out, it’s time to narrow our focus.

Through one game, Carr is ahead of Bortles. He led his Raiders to a 1-0 start after being down in the fourth quarter. He polished it off with a beautiful pass to Michael Crabtree in the end zone to complete the two-point conversion and barely pull past and win against a dominant Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.

Sep 11, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) celebrates after completing a two point conversion to take the lead during the fourth quarter of a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Raiders defeated the Saints 35-34. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Carr had a number of critical throws in the game. He was given time on almost all of his dropbacks and let his receivers and running backs take pressure off of his arm. In the game, the Raiders were incredibly balanced with 143 yards on the ground from Latavius Murray and Jalen Richard.

The balance allowed Carr to attack without being too aggressive. As noted by Pro Football Focus, Carr only attempted two passes beyond 20 yards. His receivers put in the work, however, and he finished the day with 319 yards and touchdown while completing 63.2 percent of his passes.

One thing of note really stood out for Carr. His receivers had a few drops (including a continuing problem for Amari Cooper). Despite this, he persevered and made it work. He stepped up big in a key game.

Sep 11, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) reacts after a play in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at EverBank Field. Green Bay Packers won 27-23. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Bortles, in contrast, had almost no run game to work with in the Jags’ loss to the Green Bay Packers. The runs game, sans Chris Ivory, struggled with only T.J. Yeldon trying to act as the workhorse back. While head coach Gus Bradley was impressed by his hard running, the fact of the matter is that he provided just 39 yards on 21 attempts.

In the opener, Bortles had to shine as the lone offensive threat. He delivered en route to a 320 yard game with a touchdown while completing 61.5 percent of his passes. Bortles delivered sharp passes through the game, though he didn’t deliver when it mattered most.

With the game on the line, Bortles threw strong passes but they weren’t complete. Allen Robinson had a touchdown in the end zone that fell out of his grasp (decent pass, though), and the final bubble screen play call is much maligned. Bortles knows the game was on his shoulders and, unfortunately, the Jags came up short.

It should be noted that Bortles’ interception was a rebounding ball off of Marqise Lee‘s hands. It still goes on his record, but it probably should have been caught.

So, in the first Blake Bortles vs Derek Carr matchup we have the following:

Derek Carr: 24 of 38, 319 yards, one touchdown, 1-0

Blake Bortles: 24 of 39, 320 yards, one touchdown, one interception, 0-1

Based purely on winning, the edge is given to Carr in this case. He gutted out a win for the Raiders while the Jaguars fell short. In our Week 1 review, Carr gets the nod.

Still, this was tremendously close.

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