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Jacksonville Jaguars

As ESPN.com's Mike DiRocco put it, "The Jacksonville Jaguars can't get turnovers, but they sure can give them away. ..."

DiRocco went on to suggest any hope they have of salvaging the rest of the 2016 season -- or at least getting another victory or two -- depends on whether they can flip that narrative.

Especially when it comes to quarterback Blake Bortles, who threw an interception, which was returned 42 yards for a touchdown, and lost a fumble in the Jaguars' 24-21 loss to the Houston Texans at EverBank Field on Sunday.

The interception return for a touchdown, on Bortles' fourth pass of the game, came when he was trying to find Allen Hurns on an out pattern. Houston's Kareem Jackson stepped in front of the pass, bobbled it for a second, and then went untouched for the touchdown. It was Bortles' ninth career pick-six, which is the most by any NFL quarterback since Bortles entered the league in 2014.

"Not a smart play," Bortles said.

Bortles originally was tagged with another interception when he bounced the ball off T.J. Yeldon's foot while trying to throw the ball into the ground to avoid a big loss, but the play was later changed to a fumble. Video of the play quickly found its way on social media and the Jaguars again were, deservedly, ridiculed.

"From the time you start playing quarterback, they tell you if the screen is covered to throw it at [the receiver's] feet," said Bortles, who has 14 turnovers this season (11 interceptions). "I was trying to, I guess, make a smart play, live to play another down and then that happens. It was unfortunate, but stuff like that happens from time to time and you've got to deal with it and bounce back from it."

The Jaguars repeatedly have shown they can't do that, which is why they're 2-7 heading into back-to-back road games at Detroit and Buffalo. They entered the day last in the NFL in turnover margin and in forcing turnovers.

They're now minus-14 and are stuck on five forced turnovers. They've gone 23 quarters since their last takeaway. They had two dropped interceptions last week against Kansas City, but didn't come close to getting one against the Texans.

The Jaguars don't have that kind of margin for error and the poor play of Bortles is a big reason why.

As the Sports Xchange noted, much of the blame is deserved with the pick-six and the fact that three of his downfield throws to receivers who had beaten their man and might have waltzed into the end zone if Bortles lays it on the line being prime examples. On those deep balls, he overthrew his intended target twice and underthrew Marqise Lee which enabled the defender to catch up to Lee and knock the ball out of his hands.

Make any one of those connections and the Jaguars walk away a likely winner.

Bortles was asked afterward if missing the long throws downfield bothered him psychologically.

"No, I feel about it. I mean we had some big P.I.'s (pass interferences), gave a couple of guys a chance to make plays," the quarterback said. "I obviously missed Hurns on the touchdown down the middle. It's a work in progress."

A work in progress? Three years into his NFL career and Bortles is still making such references?

Bortles is 38 games into his NFL career and has just a 10-28 record as a starter. He has thrown multiple interceptions in 13 of those 38 games.

Bortles has one year left after this season on his rookie contract and could have been in consideration for a mega-deal extension at the end of this season. But he would have to turn things around almost immediately if general manager Dave Caldwell were interested in extending such an offer to him.

Otherwise, Caldwell is willing to see Bortles through one more season to determine if he's more the guy who passed for over 4,400 yards and 35 touchdowns a year ago or the erratic, unpredictable quarterback that he has proved to be this year.

Many are calling for benching Bortles. It won't happen.

Backup Chad Henne is not capable of playing as a starting quarterback for an extended time and No. 3 Brandon Allen, a rookie, is simply not ready to be thrown into action at this time. Head coach Gus Bradley made that clear at his day-after press conference on Monday.

"I have great confidence in him. I think when I speak for everybody, we all have great confidence with him," Bradley said.

Other notes of interest. ... The Jaguars couldn't build on their 205-yard effort seven days earlier against Kansas City. It was another 80-yard effort in 23 carries, the fifth time in seven games that the Jaguars have rushed for 80 yards or less. No explosive runs, no backs averaging four yards per carry. Only two runs of more than 10 yards. All of which results in teams able to better defend against the pass.

The Jaguars continue to talk about having a balanced attack with a strong commitment to the running game, but it's not showing up. Neither Yeldon nor Chris Ivory could get to 35 rushing yards.

It leaves Jacksonville challenging Minnesota for the most inefficient ground attack in the NFL this season.

Rashad Greene was active after missing three of the past four games with an Achilles injury. Greene had two punt returns for 11 yards and narrowly missed turning the second one into a long gain before he was tripped up by a Houston defender.

Bryan Walters continued to be in the league's concussion protocol on Monday. Walters suffered a concussion in the game against Tennessee and missed last Sunday's game against Houston.

Lee was helped off the field early in Sunday's game but had his ankle re-taped and returned to action to finish with four catches for 50 yards.

And finally. ... Linebacker Telvin Smith left the team Monday to return to his hometown of Valdosta, Ga., where the night before Smith's brother was shot and killed. Valdosta police have yet to provide many details on the shooting other than to say it happened at a residence, that they feel they have a motive and that they might have witnesses.