Marcedes Lewis: Blake Bortles is ‘cooler than the other side of the pillow’

Marcedes Lewis has no concerns about the quarterback leading the Jacksonville Jaguars into Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots.

As far as the veteran tight end is concerned, the Jaguars are in good hands with Blake Bortles behind center. He couldn’t be more impressed with how he has watched Bortles grow and develop into the passer and, especially, the professional he has become.

‘I can’t praise him enough for that, just being a standup guy and just understanding that this league is all about production’

“Blake is cooler than the other side of the pillow,” Lewis told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “If you think about it, all the way from the summer to now, at one point they were talking about benching him and starting another quarterback, and just the way he handled it like a man and didn’t point any fingers and took (the) onus.

“I can’t praise him enough for that, just being a standup guy and just understanding that this league is all about production. And if you’re fortunate enough to play in this league for a long time, you’re going to have bad games here and there. You’ve just got to be able to fight through it and if it’s supposed to be, it will be.”

‘He’s a guy that’s very coachable and wants to learn and get better’

Lewis isn’t the least bit surprised about the way Bortles has handled himself.

“He definitely always took responsibility,” the tight end said. “He’s a guy that’s very coachable and wants to learn and get better. And so the fact where he started in August, all the way until now, doesn’t surprise me. His process, as far as how he prepares and gets ready for games and how he goes into the work week, from Monday all the way until Saturday before we strap it on on Sunday, has just totally been different. He’s starting to mature into a man and I applaud him for that.”