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JACKSONVILLE -- If the adage of a team making its most significant progress between years one and two, the Jacksonville Jaguars offense under the guidance of coordinator Greg Olson could be in for a banner year. Much of the success of the offense in 2015 can be shared by Olson and Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles.
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That combination, with Olson in his first season as Jaguars coordinator and Bortles in his first full season as the team's starting quarterback, helped jump Jaguar numbers -- such as points (14.6 to 23.5) and yards (289.6 to 348.8) per game.
It's also a reason why the Jaguars went so heavy in the draft (five of six players picked playing defense) and in free agency.
Certainly there were some significant additions added in the latter group, such as linemen Kelvin Beachum and Mackenzy Bernadeau along with running back Chris Ivory, all of whom have the potential to become starters for the Jaguars this season.
The offense wasn't tinkered with a lot because of the improvements it made under Olson's guidance and Bortles improvement over his rookie season when he started the final 13 games for the Jaguars.
Not that the offense was letter perfect. There still remains a number of areas that Jacksonville must get better at such as third down efficiency (35.1 percent, 26th in the NFL, red zone success (53.7 touchdown percentage, 19th in the league) and turnovers (28, tied for fourth-most).
"Those are the things we can control," Olson pointed out following one of the team's 10 OTA practice sessions.
While offense can formulate the plans and put Bortles in a position to be successful, he knows it all depends on the third-year pro out of Central Florida to be efficient and be the leader of the offensive unit.
"He's getting better," Olson said. "(The Jaguars are) excited right now where he's at mentally and where he's at physically. It's been a good (start) of OTAs for Blake.
"He'd be the first guy to say he's not there yet, but he's certainly miles ahead of where he was at this time last year, which is to be expected."
OC Olson on @BBortles5: "Excited right now on where he's at mentally and where he's at physically."https://t.co/NJcYij2Sjs
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) June 5, 2016
Bortles posted some lofty numbers a year ago, including setting four team records in various categories. Among his record-setting numbers were most pass attempts (606), most completions (355), most yards (4,428) and most touchdowns (35).
The latter number was second most in the NFL in 2015, behind only New England's Tom Brady.
Bortles has never been one to accept credit for his success, opting to credit the efforts of his teammates for what they did. It's the same with what he's seen in the first half of the Jaguars OTAs this spring.
"I think everything is just sharper," Bortles said. "It's crisper. If you turn on the OTA 1 and 2 from last year, there were all kinds of mental errors all over the place, guys messing up doing stupid things," he said. "It was kind of just, we were trying to not completely look like idiots, I think, while practicing. Now guys are kind of flowing. They understand the offense. They get it.
"Guys are making calls and making adjustments and doing things although we have a couple guys playing new positions. The guys have a good understanding and a good base knowledge of the offense. It's developing a lot faster."
Bortles is continually asked about his relationship with tight end Julius Thomas. The former Denver Broncos tight end who the Jaguars acquired in March of 2015, was thought to be the answer to the Jaguars answer of who to turn to in the red zone.
Thomas hauled in 24 touchdown passes during his final two seasons with the Broncos, including a number inside the 20.
But a thumb injury in preseason kept Thomas out of the lineup the first four weeks of the season. He managed to make 46 catches in the 12 games he appeared in, but only five resulted in six points. He had three or fewer catches in seven of the 12 games that he played in.
But Bortles is confident that 2016 will bring about a different set of numbers for Thomas now that the two of them have a year's experience together.
"He's done a great job of wanting and accepting to work together, coming and asking what do I want and what do I like," Bortles said. "It's back and forth. I ask him the same stuff. I think that every day that we come out here, he continues to get better. He never drops a ball. He's got unbelievable hands and he's continued to work on routes and we're fine-tuning the stuff he does that he really likes and wants to continue to improve on.
"There's stuff that we're figuring out. One-on-one with a DB, this is what we like. If it's man coverage versus a linebacker or a safety, this is what we like to do. So we're doing stuff like that and we're continuing to learn what we both like and what he does well and is comfortable with."
Look for the Jaguars to incorporate the hurry-up offense on more occasions this year. A year ago when they were in the final two minutes of a half or when the Jaguars needed to score quickly because they were down by more than a touchdown, Bortles played some of his best football.
Olson recognized that and is ready to put that to use in normal situations during the 2016 season.
"We felt like when we evaluated the end of the season, we thought that one of the things that Blake was pretty comfortable with was our two-minute package and so we've incorporated some no-huddle as well as that," Olson said.
"The guys are much more comfortable in that type of mode. So it's just something we can use as a changeup or we can jump in and out of."
