Should Jaguars Be Concerned About Trevor Lawrence After Mistakes Return vs. Broncos?
Trevor Lawrence was supposed to be better than this by now.
No matter what metrics or plays show Lawrence has improved in Year 2, none make up for the fact that his Week 8 performance against the Denver Broncos shouldn't happen.
Not 25 games into a career as a starter where Lawrence is now 5-20. Days like Sunday where Lawrence makes three critical mistakes, two of which wipe out potentially 10 points and another ending the game.
Lawrence finished 18-of-31 for just 133 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on Sunday. He finished the day with a passer rating of 52.2, while also taking two sacks and fumbling once, which the Jaguars recovered.
It didn't matter what defense Lawrence went against on Sunday. Whether it be a top-ranked Broncos defense or not, Lawrence shouldn't be throwing interceptions on 1st-and-goal from the one-yard line.
"No, because it's 1st and goal. It's a relatively safe play. If it's not there -- and Trevor knows this -- just throw the ball, just sail the ball, and you've got two to three more downs to do whatever you want to do there," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after Sunday's 21-17 loss, Jacksonville's fifth in a row.
"I can definitely do a better play call, obviously, but at the same time, defensively as they packed the box, just trike to get one-on-one with Christian and Trevor really. They did a nice job of taking that away. We've just got to learn from it, throw the ball away, live to play 2nd down and take our chance that way."
But that is the reality the 2-6 Jaguars are now facing. And in that reality, the Jaguars must ask if they should be concerned that the jump Lawrence has taken in year two hasn't been larger.
Whether it be his NFL-leading five red-zone interceptions the last two seasons or the seemingly routine turnover on a critical game-ending drive, Lawrence has gotten in his own way and in the way of his team too frequently in his second season. He has improved since a dreadful rookie year under Urban Meyer, but not enough to wipe out the critical mistakes that still plague him.
"You just keep coaching it. You just keep showing him. You just keep teaching. That's why we as coaches do what we do," Pederson said.
"We've got to continue to teach and just show Trevor and a lot of the players just those situations, and those are always the critical ones that seem to raise their head in games like this when it comes down to a one-score game. It's just unfortunate, but we've got to be smart, I think both coaches and players collectively, in those situations."
Pederson gave Lawrence the expected vote of confidence following the game, but the issue is that one had to be given after Lawrence has been in similar situations already this year. The interception at the one-yard line was a lesson he should have learned from when he threw the same pick in Week 5, for example.
"I mean, listen, we still have a lot of trust and a lot of faith in him. We're just going to continue to grow. We're going to grow together," Pederson said.
"I just told him to keep his head up, stay confident. I want to put the ball back in his hands and just show the trust that we have, that I have in him and that the team has. He knows that we've got to be better in a few situations, but again, those are really good learning opportunities for Trevor."
The issue? After the game, it didn't sound like it was a lesson Lawrence had learned. He has never lost before his Jaguars career, with his golden right arm getting him out of every bad situation in the past. It is the same arm he now believes too much in, leading to moments like his interception.
"The play we had on, trying to get the ball to Christian and the nickel did a really good job covering him. I kept extending the play and I had Marvin on the back line; just didn't put enough touch to get it over," Lawrence said.
"The safety was really just on the goal line, kind of reading my eyes, running with me, mirroring me. I had Marvin in the back of the end zone. I just threw it too low and the safety made a great play. The thing you look back and say is you put it in a spot where only your guy can get it, and if he catches it, great, touchdown; if not, it's incomplete. Probably obviously not the best location for the ball there. But really don't think that it was necessarily the wrong decision, just didn't throw a good ball and didn't keep it away from those guys on the goal line."
Lawrence is far from a bust. He isn't even a bad quarterback considering this is more or less his rookie year and his numbers have still taken a big leap forward.
But eventually, the Jaguars will need to see Lawrence stop being his own worst enemy. After two turnover-free weeks, Lawrence went back to getting in his own way. And at some point, one step forward and two steps backward isn't good enough anymore.
