The thought that Jax only wanted to play a respectable game is unfathomable. And the thought that their game plan and execution had little chance is, IMO, ridiculous. They were within one great play by a disappointing Gilmore of going ahead with less than 2 min left. No one would compare Bortles to Brady, but he played very well and almost pulled it out. IMO, the thought that Jax was hamstrung in the 4th by the fear of a Bortles mistake is misguided. They threw 13 times vs 4 runs. Even before the last drive they threw more than ran in the 4th. Jax play well and to win, NE/Brady just played better. Could they have been more aggressive on first down in the 4th ? Sure, but this was their MO throughout the year. If they had thrown more, but unsuccessfully, then everyone would have blamed them for abandoning their MO, stopping the clock, thus giving NE more time to come back. When you lose people can blame many things. When you win they forget many things. Jax played well, Brady just played better at crunch time like almost always.
Some may be surprised at the following 4th qtr stats for Jax:
4 runs
5-12 passing for 68 yards and 1 sack
So, 13 passes and 4 runs. Even without the last drive where there were 7 passes, Jax passed 6 times vs 4 runs in the 4th. OTOH, they did start 3 of their 4 drives with a run, but they did this most of the year. The last 4 runs were for a long of 2 yards.