Week 2 QB Index: Where Does Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence Land?

Week 1 hasn't been particually kind to Jacksonville Jaguars Trevor Lawrence in his short career.

For the second year in a row, Lawrence came out on the losing end of a Week 1 opener that helped dash some of the preseason optimism surrounding the franchise.

Lawrence completed 24-of-42 passes for 275 yards, a touchdown and an interception in Sunday's 28-22 loss.

“Overall, he protected the football to the very end of the game, that’s what we ask him to do. I think there’s throws he wants back, just like everybody," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said.

"There’s plays everybody wants back, there’s play designs I want back, there’s play calls coach may want back. There’s certain things like that, you come in here, you learn from it, why did it happen, and how do I get better moving forward. That was the first game of a long season right here. Everybody’s ready to get back to work. The second we got back here on Monday everybody was ready to get back to work and work towards putting ourselves in the best position this week.”

But where does that place Lawrence in this week's QB Index from NFL.com? Lawrence enters Week 2 ranked 19th, actually four spots higher than the week before.

"Lawrence is growing. He’ll miss a throw. Then whip something special. Then watch as Travis Etienne drops a wide-open screen near the end zone. The Jaguars put up a fight in Washington," NFL.com wrote.

"Lawrence helped, but also chose to uncork a wayward late-fourth-quarter deep shot that landed in enemy hands to end the game. Lawrence feels close to a monster performance, but never far from a decision or two that costs his team a win."

Lawrence's counterpart this week is veteran quarterback Matt Ryan, who is ranked No. 16 on a list that is led by Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.

Lawrence eventually will need to have the compliments pay off on the field, though this is important and propert context about just how Lawrence may stack up to other Week 1 performers.

Since Week 1 of the 2021 season, Lawrence ranks among 44 qualifying passers (100 min. attempts): No. 38 in completion %, No. 28 in touchdown passes, No. 3 in interceptions, No. 40 in touchdown %, No. 30 in interception %, No. 40 in quarterback rating, No. 40 in yards per attempt, No. 40 in adjusted yards per attempt, and No. 35 adjusted net yards gained per attempt.

Lawrence will now have to flash against a Colts' defense that has a new coordinator in Gus Bradley and several new pieces on each level of the defense.

“It’s changed a lot. Different D coordinator. It’s a lot of looking at what Las Vegas did last year with the same scheme. They’re a simple group, they’re really disciplined, they do their job, they do it well," Lawrence said.

"They’re not trying to necessarily trick you. Third down might be a different story, but just talking about base down. They’re really just disciplined, their front does a nice job and obviously their linebackers are really talented. They’ve got some guys in the back: Kenny Moore (CB), they got the rookie safety, Nick Cross, and then they just added Stephon Gilmore (CB), so, they’ve got a lot of guys across the board. I think they’re a really sound defense, do a great job of keeping everything in front of them. It’s going to be fun game planning and figuring out different ways to attack them. I think we’ve got a good start right now.”