Jaguars' O-Line, Receiver Shortcomings Will Continue to Plague Chad Henne

It's rare, in the NFL, to see a Week 2 game indicate that changes are absolutely necessary. But here we are, Jacksonville. Starting right tackle Cameron Bradfield was released days after Washington turned Jacksonville into a 10-sack fiesta. Starting center Jacques McClendon was benched as well.

The press continues to push head coach Gus Bradley and offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch on when Blake Bortles can be ready. The truth is that Bortles is ready. Anybody with eyes can see that. Chad Henne isn't starting because he's better. He's starting because, to paraphrase Simpsons Don King rip-off Lucius Sweet, the Jaguars need a body that can absorb punishment. 

None of this should come as a surprise. I've been writing since June about how the Jaguars offensive line was going to be a major question mark. Outside of new import Zane Beadles, not a single Jaguars lineman came into this year with a sustained track record of solid NFL performance. 

Player	2013 Snaps	2013 Blown Blocks (FO)	2013 PFF Grade	2014 Snaps	2014 PFF Grade
Cameron Bradfield	793	27.5	-29.1	111	-7.6
Austin Pastzor	790	13.5	-11.6	0	n/a
Luke Joeckel	272	14.5	-7.7	128	-3.2
Jacques McClendon	186	1.0	-0.5	114	-8.6
Zane Beadles	1198	24.8	-4.1	128	1.3
Brandon Linder	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	128	-2.2
Luke Bowanko	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	DNP -- 2014 Rookie	14	-0.1
Sam Young	1	1	-1.4	18	-1.1

And even then, we were expecting Michael Brewster to be the center and Austin Pastzor to win the right tackle job. Brewster played so poorly in the preseason that he was released, and Pastzor broke his hand, giving Bradfield the starting job he obviously did not deserve. 

When your franchise's game plan is to play to the extremes of the NFL's financial system—to try to generate chances for as many unproven young players as the Jaguars have—there are going to be misses and growing pains. New right tackle (until Pastzor is healthy) Sam Young and rookie sixth-round center Luke Bowanko are just new rolls of the dice.

The odds are against them being any better than their predecessors. There's a reason why Young has bounced from Dallas to Buffalo to Jacksonville. There's a reason Bowanko was available in the sixth round. But Jacksonville is in a spot where it might as well keep rolling the dice: If it finds one good player out of its cadre of low-round/waiver/undrafted-free-agent finds, the process will have paid for itself. 

To be willing to win big like that, you also have to be willing to lose big. I'm not going to subject you to the entire sack reel. Here are a few screenshots that show you what life is like for Chad Henne right now. 

Source: NFL Game Rewind

The right side of your line isn't supposed to completely fold like that, right?

Source: NFL Game Rewind

The starting right tackle should be able to at least touch his assignment on a play-by-play basis, yeah? That's not asking too much? 

One factor you might not have thought of that offensive coordinator Fisch brought up is that the Jaguars are playing with rookie receivers who aren't helping Henne out.

In fact, Bradley went on a bit of a rant about Marquise Lee, Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, according to The Florida-Times Union's Hays Carlyon. Bradley said, "The routes need to be run correctly. They need to break off at certain depths, and we need to trust that they’re going to be running the route at the right depth."

Here's one example of that:

Source: NFL Game Rewind

Washington blitzes. Henne is looking for a hot route. The slot receiver does an out-and-up. The outside receiver runs a seam route. By the time Henne looks to his left, the offensive line has already introduced several Skins defenders into the backfield. 

When a team turns over almost its entire receiving corps with rookies—even if the replacements are talented players like Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee—suddenly the quarterback is relying on two players who are still trying to learn NFL hot routes. Sometimes, that's going to end poorly. 

Rob Carr/Getty Images

These issues are eventually going to resolve themselves. The Jaguars are a smart organization with a head coach who preaches learning from mistakes. It may take until Week 10 or so, but Lee will learn his hot routes. The Jaguars will find some semblance of decent line play, even if it means they have to dig on the waiver wire. 

But it's not going to happen overnight. And until it does, Chad Henne is this organization's fall guy. He's taking the abuse so that Blake Bortles doesn't have to. 

That makes Henne one of only two players on this team who are blocking well right now.

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.