ORLANDO, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye has no idea if Blake Bortles is going to be the team’s starting quarterback in 2018, but he does know that the criticism of his teammate needs to stop.

That includes blaming Bortles for the 24-20 loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game.

“He finished strong,” Bouye said after a Pro Bowl practice at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. “That’s all I’m going to say. It’s a lot of factors that go into it. We can’t just blame it on one person.

“At the end of the day, defense had to show up, too, and we didn’t. If we would have won that game, what would y’all say then?”

Bortles threw for 293 yards and a touchdown in the loss at Gillette Stadium and he finished with 594 yards, three touchdowns and a 91.0 quarterback rating in three playoff games. He threw a fourth-down touchdown pass in a 10-3 victory over Buffalo and led a pair of fourth-quarter TD drives in a 45-42 victory at Pittsburgh.

Blake Bortles "really kept us in the game and I wish that we would have finished it for him," said Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye about Sunday's loss to the Patriots. Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

In the two final regular-season games, Bortles threw two touchdown passes and five interceptions in losses at San Francisco and Tennessee.

Just before the playoffs began, Bouye gave Bortles a book that he hoped would help the quarterback: “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable” by Tim S. Grover, Michael Jordan's former trainer.

Bouye said he loves the book and has read it five times.

“It’s just talking about mindset as far as like getting in a zone, tuning out the noise, channeling your dark side to get in your zone,” Bouye said. “It’s really good. It helps in sports and just in life in general.”

Bortles read at least some of the book, Bouye said.

“He just came up to me [and] he smiled. He’s like, ‘Dark side,’” Bouye said. “And like winked at me and I’m like, ‘Ah, you’ve been reading.’ And then you just see him run out on the practice field and just start throwing and looking confident. I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s on one.’

“... We were talking about it every time we walk by and you just saw his confidence getting higher and higher. Just what he did against [Tom] Brady last game, it was amazing. He really kept us in the game, and I wish that we would have finished it for him.”