Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars Offense Show Major Improvement in Preseason

After what seemed more like an eternity than a bit over eight months, football finally returned to Jacksonville. And the Jacksonville Jaguars got off to a great start, securing a 23-21 preseason victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It was a great team effort from the beginning to the end, and the second-team and third-team players deserve praise for working hard and holding on for a win toward the end of the game.

However, the major storyline coming into this game was how the first-team offense would look. This was the first time new offensive coordinator Greg Olson was taking the Jaguars to face a proper NFL opponent.

And looking at the first-team offense overall, it went well! There were plenty of positives to take away, such as quarterback Blake Bortles' stellar performance and the two drives after an opening three and out.

Talking about Bortles first, there was obvious improvement all around from the sophomore quarterback. He was technically sound, mentally stable and a cog of the offense rather than a liability.

The most impressive aspect of Bortles' first preseason game was his efficiency and consistency when actually throwing the ball. He was almost always on the mark, and his completion percentage, as seen below, was impeccable.

Passes Attempted	Passes Completed	Completion Percentage	Yards	QB Rating
15	11	73.3	118	96.0

Eleven for 15 is much better than what we were seeing last season, and what's even better is that three of his incompletions were drops by his receivers. Drops aren't necessarily a good thing, but it shows that Bortles had a fantastic, accurate night.

He also showed great pocket presence, stepping up when he needed to and going through his progressions to find the right receiver. This pocket presence eventually resulted in a touchdown: Bortles rolled out of the pocket, bought space and time and scored by hitting the pylon.

And as good as his night was, he wasn't the only one to impress. With rookie running back T.J. Yeldon sitting out, Denard Robinson and Toby Gerhart did a fantastic job of taking advantage with good performances from each.

For Robinson, he showed the same flashes of speed and instinctive running and that resulted in a respectable 22 yards on four carries. For Gerhart, he showed signs of what the Jaguars were looking for when they signed him via free agency in 2014.

He ran hard and never gave up on plays, proving it has been a work-heavy offseason. He only totaled 13 yards on four carries, but he had two impressive check-down receptions that resulted in 30 yards. All in all, it was a good start to a possible comeback for the Stanford man.

And while both had solid nights, the running highlight of the night, at least on the national scale, was from fourth-string RB Bernard Pierce. Did anybody say hurdle?

Those aforementioned three drops from the Jaguars didn't help, but two were from backup tight end Clay Harbor and Pierce. It was less on the actual WR group, which did a decent job.

There were no electric plays from the WRs, but they did their job well. The 25 yards from No. 1 WR Allen Robinson and a fantastic play from Bortles to the resurgent Arrelious Benn for 27 yards were also highlights.

While the first-team offense did a fine job for the most part, there were still a couple of downsides. The first being TE Julius Thomas' fractured hand, as reported by the team's official site. Bradley labeled it a "stable fracture," but it will be disappointing not to see Thomas take the field during the rest of the preseason.

The other issue was the inconsistency from the offensive line. It showed improvement by buying Bortles time and clearing holes for the RBs, but two false starts and a holding call from the starting line were concerning.

The Jaguars' offense is improving, but those kinds of penalties from the offensive line are drive killers. They need to shake off the rust and get zeroed in because it could end up hampering the offense in dangerous ways in the future.

There were a few missed assignments and penalties, but for the most part, the line did well. Bortles was only sacked one time—starting left tackle Luke Joeckel got beat by the Steelers' James Harrison, as seen below. That's pretty good considering how much pressure Bortles was under last season.

Overall, there were a lot of things to be positive about from the first-team offense. The play-calling set up Bortles and the run game in a proper, balanced fashion, and they were able to score 10 points on three drives.

There's still work to be done, but this was a good start. There is a stable foundation to build from, and the trip to face the New York Giants on Saturday will be an interesting second step for this offense.

What do you think? What grade would you give the Jaguars' first-team offense? Answer the poll and comment below!

All stats were provided by ESPN.com unless otherwise stated.

Evan Reier is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report covering the Jacksonville Jaguars. Follow Evan on Twitter @evanreier.