CBS catches Blake Bortles crying after loss to Patriots (Video)

Blake Bortles wasn’t ready for the Jaguars playoff run to end in New England.

Despite staying out of his own way the entire postseason, Blake Bortles is not going to the Super Bowl. Sunday’s AFC Championship game saw the New England Patriots come from behind — again — to reach back-to-back Super Bowls, but you can’t blame Bortles for most of it.

Sure, he failed to orchestrate a game-winning drive in the final minutes, but Bortles played better than anyone thought he would and needs to be commended for it. The emotions the quarterback felt were real, and cameras on the sideline captured that as it became clear the Jaguars were going to be heading back to Duvall.

After Deion Lewis carried the ball for a first down, Bortles broke down on the sideline. Tracey Wolfson noted that he threw a football as hard as he could into the crowd behind him and CBS cameras captured him crying.

It’s hard to kill Bortles for this, as there’s a litany of things you can criticise him for. He played better than most expected and did exactly what he needed to do to make sure the Jaguars weren’t derailed by his mistakes.

We all kept waiting for the patent lake Bortles interception or garbage decision, but neither came. He didn’t turn the ball over once this postseason, despite playing three of the best defenses in the conference.

Bortles’ tears are an easy story and good for a chuckle. But anyone saying that he’s not as good as he was these last three games needs to take a harder look at how well he actually played.