Blake Bortles: Oddsmakers have Chad Henne as Week 1 starter for Jacksonville Jaguars

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars' quarterback competition appears to be wide open, but oddsmakers favor Chad Henne as the team's Week 1 starter.

BookMaker.eu posted the odds on who will start for the team in its contest at 1 p.m. September 10 against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.

Bortles is currently at -110, while Henne sits at -120.

Jacksonville lost 12-8 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thursday in its second preseason game. In that contest, Bortles completed 8-of-13 passes for 65 yards. Henne completed 6-of-10 passes for 44 yards. Neither quarterback threw an interception or a touchdown. Third-stringer Brandon Allen completed 10-of-15 passes for 144 yards and a score. In the Jaguars' first preseason game, Henne completed 5-of-6 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. Bortles completed 3-of-5 passes for 16 yards.

"I had to take care of some business," Marrone told reporters Thursday in his postgame opening statement. "I met with both quarterbacks afterwards. I told them what I'm looking for is, I'm looking for someone who is going to lead this offense."

"I'm not happy with the performance today. I'm not going to sit here and b.s. anyone. Everyone saw it out there. Whatever you want to call it, I'm still trying to evaluate who the best person is at that position. I told that to both quarterbacks, to lead the offense, but I also said this. I wasn't able to speak to the team after I spoke to both quarterbacks, but I just want to make sure that everyone understands that if you can do this at the quarterback position, all the other positions are very easy to do. So when I sit up here and talk about earning the right to play, that's what we're doing. We're trying to earn the right to play. So we're going to figure this thing out. I know I'm probably going to get a lot of questions during the week, timetables, how so; I'm going to wait, evaluate it and see who the best person is for that job as well as some other jobs out there."

Marrone said the job is "right up there for grabs." He would not address what Bortles' biggest issues have been.

"I really can't comment on that, it's just a matter of the production," Marrone told reporters. "It's not the production we want, okay. I'm not saying that Chad has it or not. It's right up there for grabs, and either person can take it. But it's up there and we'll take a look at it and at the end of the day, we'll make the best decision, again, who is the best person? It's very simple. Who is the best person to put in that position to lead the offense?"

Bortles later addressed Marrone's comments.

"I mean that's fine, whether you say it or not I think at any position in the NFL, it's an open competition every single day," the quarterback said. "If there's a guy better than you that's not playing, he's going to play. I think you have to go earn the right to start at your position at any level."

Bortles, the third overall selection in the 2014 NFL Draft, has started every game for the franchise in the last two seasons. Henne joined the team in 2012. He has 22 career starts for the Jaguars. In 2013, Henne completed 60.6 percent of his throws for 3,241 yards, 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 13 starts.

"I always took it as I'm always competing and never really said I'm the backup, even though that's the way it was," Henne told reporters. "I still study hard and try to prove in practice what I can do. All I can do is to try to get myself better prepared each week."

The Jaguars' next game is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against the Carolina Panthers at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.