JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It has only been five years, but David Garrard is amazed his record still stands.

Not with the way the NFL has adapted to encourage wide-open offenses by enacting rules to protect quarterbacks and receivers and with how strictly officials enforce contact rules against defensive backs.

But it’s still there, on page 149 of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2015 media guide:

Most touchdown passes in a single season: 23 by David Garrard in 2010.

"I can’t believe it’s even a record," Garrard said. "I’m definitely surprised that it stood up."

It’s almost ridiculous that in an age where defenders are more limited than ever when it comes to what they can and can’t do against receivers, no quarterback in the Jaguars’ 20-year history has thrown more than 23 touchdown passes in a single season. In fact, Garrard and Mark Brunell are the only quarterbacks in team history to throw for more than 17 in a single season.

However, Garrard believes he won’t hold the record much longer. Maybe only until the end of November, if second-year quarterback Blake Bortles plays as well in the regular season as he did in the preseason.

"I’d be happy if Blake were able to break it," Garrard said. "The way the league is now that shouldn’t be a problem. You can barely touch receivers now. … When you add all these weapons and T.J. Yeldon, hopefully he’ll be in the 30s this year."

Here’s how absurd it is that no Jaguars quarterback ever has passed that number:

Seven quarterbacks have averaged at least 23 TD passes a season over the past decade.

Every other NFL team has had at least one quarterback throw for 27 or more touchdown passes in a single season -- even the Houston Texans (Matt Schaub, 29 in 2009), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Josh Freeman, 27 in 2012), and Cleveland Browns (Brian Sipe, 30 in 1980).

Over the past 20 seasons, NFL quarterbacks have thrown for at least 23 touchdowns in a single season 171 times, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Some of the players that did it: Derek Anderson, Elvis Grbac, Jake Delhomme, Nick Foles and Aaron Brooks.

Heck, Otto Graham and Sammy Baugh threw 25 touchdown passes in a single season in the late 1940s. Even some guy named Tommy Thompson threw 25 in 1948 for Philadelphia.

Yet, no quarterback in Jaguars history has been able to top 23. Even when Brunell threw for an NFL-high 4,367 yards in 1996, he only threw 19 touchdown passes. Even in the four seasons in which receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell each surpassed 1,000 yards receiving, Brunell never threw for more than 20.

There are legitimate reasons to be optimistic that Garrard could be correct that his record will fall. Bortles’ improved mechanics -- he shortened his windup, lengthened his follow-through and cleaned up some footwork -- has improved his accuracy. He’s hitting receivers in stride on crossing routes, fitting throws into small windows and putting balls where they’re either going to be caught by his receivers or incompletions. He completed 65 percent of his passes in the preseason, a number that jumps to 78 percent when you add in seven drops and take away one spike to stop the clock.

Bortles, who threw 11 touchdowns and 17 interceptions as a rookie, has more weapons around him in 2015, too. Tight end Julius Thomas will miss the first three weeks recovering from a fractured hand, but he has been one of the best tight ends in football the past two seasons (108 catches for 1,277 yards and 24 TDs). Second-year receiver Allen Robinson appears poised for a breakout season and tight end Marcedes Lewis is coming off what the coaches have called one of his best, if not the best, camps of his nine-year career.

The addition of Yeldon boosts the running game, and the offensive line has performed much better in pass protection. The Jaguars had up an NFL-high 71 sacks in 2014, and Bortles himself was sacked 55 times. He was sacked just twice in the preseason.

Lewis -- who caught 10 of Garrard’s TD passes in 2010 and is one of only two players remaining on the roster from that team -- said the scheme that offensive coordinator Greg Olson has installed should help, too. Because of the additions and improvements, the offense is better equipped to sustain drives, which didn’t happen last season.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Jaguars went three-and-out on 37.9 percent of their drives (27th in the NFL).

"I think we have the makeup to do it, the scheme to do it, so I think we’ll be on the field a lot longer than we normally were last year," Lewis said. "We rarely were on the field. It was always three-and-outs. If you’re on the field, you have more opportunities.

"We want to keep our defense on the sideline. We need to get points every time we touch the ball so hopefully that correlates to more touchdowns."