Texans' Lovie Smith Offers His Own Impressions of Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence
When Sunday kicks off, Lovie Smith will become an interesting part of Trevor Lawrence's first 22 starts.
With the Houston Texans (0-3-1) set to travel to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars (2-2) in Week 5, Smith will become the first defensive who Lawrence will have faced three times in his career.
Considering the upheaval of coaching staffs throughout the league and the nature of the 31-team league, Lawrence has had to go from Clemson to seeing a new and original defensive scheme almost every single week of his career. But with Smith at the helm of the Texans as head coach after being the team's defensive coordinator last year for two of Lawrence's 17 starts as a rookie, Smith provides a sense of continuity.
With Lawrence getting a chance to play Smith's scheme for the third time and for the first time in 2022, this week also gives the Jaguars a chance to see just how much Lawrence has improved since a year ago. Lawrence was 0-2 vs. the Texans last year, losing 37-21 in his NFL debut and 30-16 in Week 15.
"You know, I've been asked that question a few times. And it seems like when people have said 'have you seen or how have you seen him change', I mean, he was a good football player last year," Smith told Jacksonville media on Wednesday when asked how he has seen Lawrence change since his two starts against him as a rookie.
"He can make all the throws. Sometimes everything just didn't come together. But if you just look at his play, he's a better quarterback this year than last. And I think some of that is just normal growth from year one to year two."
In those starts against Smith last year, Lawrence completed 56.18% of his passes for three touchdowns and three interceptions -- all of which came in Week 1. Lawrence had a quarterback rating of 71.5 and averaged 271 yards for 6.09 yards per attempt.
So far through four games in 2022, Lawrence's numbers have taken a leap. He is completing 65.7% of his passes for 236.5 yards per game with eight touchdowns and two interceptions, giving him a quarterback rating of 99.9 and 7.6 yards per attempt.
"There's a lot of things going on in a rookie's mind, you know, protections, all the different things that you have," Smith said.
"And every day that you're in that position, you get more comfortable. And then you can eventually get down to just your talent taking off. And he has as much talent as anybody around."
