The Jaguars are one game closer to the regular season, but no further along on their choice at quarterback.
Coach Doug Marrone came out of Thursday's 24-23 preseason loss to the Panthers unconvinced that either Chad Henne or Blake Bortles ran away with the job.
"I'm not going to stand up here and comment a lot on the two," Marrone said after the game, per the team's official website. "I'm going to go back and look at things and see where we're at."
A milquetoast tie between the pair likely benefits Henne, who was promoted to the first-string role last week after two uninspiring, mistake-prone starts by Bortles.
Against the Panthers, Henne hit 8 of 13 throws for 74 yards while Bortles entered later to string together a pair of touchdown marches while going 12 of 16 for 125 yards with one scoring strike and an interception.
"Who knows what the decision will be?" said Jaguars receiver Allen Robinson. "I don't think there's a big difference; I mean both of these guys have been here since I've been here and they're pros, so who knows?"
Making matters worse, both Henne and Bortles were hurt by a ground game that served up multiple negative-yardage runs, which made "it very difficult for whoever's playing quarterback," per Marrone.
With or without the surrounding support, Jacksonville simply doesn't have a signal-caller who screams "franchise passer." They've got two underwhelming options under center, meaning both will likely play during another long season on offense for the Jags.
