Thursday Night Football saw Gardner Minshew pass up an opportunity to show he can be more than a tank-proof quarterback, that he can actually be a long-term answer at the position for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Against Miami, with his top receiver (D.J. Chark) missing, Minshew went similarly missing in action against a team whose defense had plenty of weak links to exploit.
It’s certainly true that Minshew didn’t have a whole lot of help — Chris Conley dropped a pair of passes that could have made things look significantly better, and tackle Cam Robinson got ejected from the game for trying to making contact with an official after a fumble. But the bottom line is that Minshew didn’t rise to the occasion in the way his opposite number Ryan Fitzpatrick did.