Friday Night Logue: Breaking Down Trevor Lawrence’s Four Interceptions Against Tennessee
Trevor Lawrence was put in nearly an impossible environment to succeed this season -- surrounded by a toxic director and a pitiful supporting cast -- but he’s still managed to show some glimpses of grace.
However, that was not the case last week. While much of hisprior lack of production could be pinned on said environment, Jacksonville’s first scoreless game since 2009 was largely due to poor quarterback play.
Lawrence’s first INT of the game came on a running back screen, though the running back wasn’t who was targeted. This isn’t some kind of tricky option play -- it’s a designed screen with an “in case of emergency” shallow crossing route to the opposite side of the field.
James Robinson had plenty of room to catch and run, but Lawrence must’ve liked Laviska Shenault’s route more against clear man coverage. Shenault got the heap of the blame when the play happened live, and it is a ball that he should catch, but Lawrence also deserves criticism for a questionable decision and a flaming fastball to a receiver who may not have been expecting to be targeted. Shenault appeared to sell the route for a few steps before slowing down, assuming that the ball was going to Robinson.
The second pick of the day also came on a poor read. Tennessee lines up in a Double A Gap Mug look with six defenders on the line of scrimmage, threatening a blitz. Jayon Brown makes a great play, but Lawrence should’ve never thrown the ball over the middle of the field. Once he saw Brown starting to blitz, he should’ve thrown to his “hot” receiver (in this case, Marvin Jones at the bottom of the screen). A quick throw to the outside is much safer than a double-move route on the inside in the exact area where Brown could, and did, drop back into coverage.
Lawrence’s third interception came on the next possession. Jacksonville ran a Scissors route concept at the top of the screen with the deep safety on that side of the field being the primary read. Lawrence looks in the direction of Jones’ corner route that is about to be wiiiiiide open, but incoming pressure makes him evacuate the pocket.
Lawrence has been wildly impressive at navigating the pocket this season, so it would’ve been nice to see him step to the left rather than sprint. That could’ve bought himself another second to see that the safety (or in this case, the cornerback on an Inverted Tampa 2 coverage) left Jones all by himself.
Escaping pressure wasn’t exactly a bad choice, but his next decision was a costly one -- Lawrence tried to make a superhuman play and ended up with another turnover. He has the arm strength to throw over 50 yards with ease, but this just wasn’t an appropriate time as he was being chased by a defender, running towards his weak side, and throwing to 5’ 10” Jaydon Mickens.
Lawrence’s final interception came against another coverage with post-snap safety movement. The Titans are lined up with a single-high safety, suggesting either Cover 1 Man or Cover 3 Zone -- either of which would be susceptible to the Dagger route concept called by Jacksonville. Lawrence seemed to assume that the backside dig would be open without making a post-snap read, because he fired the ball there despite a Titans defender sitting directly in front of the intended receiver.
Maybe Lawrence was just trying to do too much too late, or maybe he trusted his arm a bit more than he should have like on the third interception. He noted postgame that the final pick was the one that frustrated him the most.
Despite the worrisome statistics -- he threw twice as many interceptions on Sunday (four) as he’s thrown touchdowns since the bye (two) -- Lawrence has shown more proof than doubt this season that he should’ve been selected first overall last April. But Sunday was a reminder that for all the chaos that’s surrounded Lawrence, he’s been a source of the offense’s struggles too.
Other Thoughts
-Former Jaguars offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett should get a lot more talk about being Urban Meyer’s potential replacement as head coach. I’m willing to chalk up his run-run-pass approach in 2017 and 2018 to the wishes of Doug Marrone/Tom Coughlin and the flaws of Blake Bortles. Hackett is currently Green Bay’s offensive coordinator, where he has earned glowing reviews (see thread):
-I’m heating up, folks. FNL prop bets are now 3-1 after Laquon Treadwell doubled his receiving yardage prop last Sunday. This week I like James Robinson to score a touchdown (+105 on DraftKings) against a Texans defense that ranks dead last in EPA per carry allowed. Robinson still isn’t 100% healthy, but the absences of Carlos Hyde (concussion) and Urban Meyer (kicked out) should give him enough opportunities to get into the end zone.
