Bortles insists arm is 'fine' despite increased reps, continued miscues

Warning: Story contains coarse language

Baby steps for Blake Bortles.

Following a relatively restful Sunday at training camp, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback continued to make mistakes at Tuesday's session, drawing harsh criticism from No. 1 receiver Allen Robinson.

Despite the rest for an arm which head coach Doug Marrone claimed "looked tired," according to ESPN's Michael DiRocco, and the never-ending issues with interceptions and inaccuracy, Bortles isn't blaming what has been a strenuous practice schedule.

"My arm is fine," Bortles said. "It feels good. I’ll be all right."

He added: "I’ve taken more reps in this camp than probably the last three years all combined. That was something in talking with coach Marrone and coach (Nathaniel) Hackett that I knew they had done that in the past. They had their reasons and philosophies on why they do it. I totally agree with it."

Despite the miscues, Bortles seems to have found light at the end of the tunnel as a result of increased practice.

"We’re still making mistakes, and we’ve had thousands of reps," Bortles said. "Imagine if we only had 500, it would be probably way worse."

Marrone opted to limit his starting quarterback to fewer than 20 snaps in 7-on-7 drills Sunday and left him out of the same session in the second half of practice. Prior to his day being cut short, Bortles had already thrown a pair of picks. The head coach offered an honest description of his quarterback's performance.

"There are some throws that I’ll think, 'Hey, that’s a good throw,' and then I’ll be like, 'That’s a horse s--- throw,' Marrone said. "At the end of the day, I’m just trying to get more and get better."

Bortles will enter his fourth NFL season with a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 69:51, while also losing 12 fumbles. He's confident all the extra work will pay off in reducing his number of turnovers.

"I think the only way to eliminate those mistakes is continue to do it and continue to do it and continue to correct it in meetings until it’s beaten in your head that you know how to do it," Bortles said.