JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In the last three weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars faced three journeymen quarterbacks — Charlie Whitehurst, Brian Hoyer and Ryan Tannehill.

And by journeymen, that means quarterbacks who don’t exactly strike stay-awake-the-night-before-the-game fear into opponents.

The Jaguars still lost two of the three, beating only Hoyer for their lone win in the first half of the season.

Now they have a tougher challenge when they go to Cincinnati to face Andy Dalton, who is one of five quarterbacks to take his team to the playoffs in his first three seasons.

He will provide a tough test for a defense that has allowed just three touchdowns in the last four games.

Dalton didn’t struggle the way Blake Bortles has as a rookie, probably because he redshirted as a freshman and then played four years at TCU when he led the team to a 13-0 record as a senior while Bortles came out early and skipped his senior season.

It also helped that Dalton has had a better team around him than Bortles has. Dalton threw only 13 picks his rookie season in 16 games- Bortles already has 12 — and had 20 touchdowns.

Dalton said a quarterback can learn from his mistakes.

“The next time you get into that situation when the play is called, you go, “Maybe I shouldn’t take a chance on this one.’ You can definitely learn from the mistakes you make,” he said.

For the Bengals, Dalton is the face of the franchise, a status the Jaguars hope Bortles will eventually become.

He threw 80 touchdown passes his first three years, a figure topped by only Dan Marino and Manning.

He’s started every game in his career with the Bengals and has 86 touchdown passes and 53 interceptions. He has a 34-20-1 record as a starter.

By contrast, Bortles is 1-4 as a starter and has thrown just six touchdown passes along with the 12 interceptions. Four of the picks were Pick Sixes so Bortles has wound up with 10 passes that went to the end zone — six by the Jaguars and four by the opposing teams.

Bortles will try to cut down on his interceptions as he duels Dalton.

Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said he hopes that Bortles will cut his interceptions from 12 to six in the second half of the season.

Bortles said Fisch hadn’t told him that.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that. One of the big things is to try and get better in any way. If you’ve thrown twenty interceptions, try and throw ten the next time. Try and get better no matter where the bar’s at, no matter what the situation is, just try to improve on whatever it is,” he said.

On bouncing back from interceptions, he said, “It’s more challenging because you don’t want to try an interception or turn the ball over in the redzone when you have an opportunity to get points. I think the more you do it and (understand) the process, you get it’s definitely more frustrating but I think it’s another challenge or another test to see how you respond and how you face it.”

Bortles took the blame for the loss to Miami when he threw to Pick Sixes.

“The defense is playing extremely well, the offensive line is doing well, our running game is rolling, our receivers are doing a good job and now I’ve got to take the next step,” he said. “What’s the deciding factor and it’s been the turnovers. I think anybody can see that and they’ve all come from me so that’s something I’ve got to change in order for us to be successful.”

The Dalton-Bortles matchup favors the Bengals, which is why Cincinnati is a double digit favorite.

If the Jaguars are to pull an upset, they need Bortles to stop throwing picks and start throwing touchdown passes.

NOTES: Among those not practicing Wednesday were CB Will Blackmon (broken index finger, will not play Sunday), DE Andre Branch (groin) and OT Luke Joeckle (concussion). Among those limited in practice Wednesday were CB Dwayne Gratz (groin), TE Marcedes Lewis (ankle) and WR Allen Hurns (ankle).