How Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence Is Preparing for Panthers Defense

Football is back for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers as the two sister teams go toe-to-toe on opening weekend in Jacksonville. It is an exciting time to be a football fan of either team, with plenty of newness, high hopes for both teams' respective starting quarterbacks, and key additions that could spell success for either organization in 2025.

Trevor Lawrence is entering a critical fifth season in the NFL, with hopes that his head coach, Liam Coen, can right the ship on the correct course. The former highly-regarded draft prospect and top overall draft selection in 2021 offers incredible football acumen, and when on his A-game, can be a force to be reckoned with.

Now, entering his first-ever matchup against the Panthers, Lawrence feels prepared for what is to come this Sunday.

Lawrence on preperation against Panthers defense

Lawrence Jag — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) rolls out to hand off to running back Travis Etienne Jr. (1) during first quarter action. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Cleveland Browns at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida Friday, August 12, 2022 for the first home preseason game of the season. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union] | Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

Lawrence will be facing a Panthers defense that was historically disastrous in 2024, allowing the most points in a single season in league history and leading all teams in rushing yards allowed by a significant margin. This Carolina defense did make improvements on all three levels of the unit, and could provide a challenge based on defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero's history of coverage disguises and unique looks out of single-high alignments.

For the former Clemson Tigers standout, Lawrence acknowledges the challenges Evero and the Panthers may present on Sunday, but recognizes that similar strategies are being used throughout the league, and knows he must always stay alert.

"You trust what you see as far as scheme goes, but they can always do something different. It’s like every defense now can do anything," Lawrence explained. "People do so many different things, and you don’t want to think that way because you do have your plan and you want to play fast and let it rip, but you are aware that Week 1, we all have the same tape."

Mind games become a factor this early in the season, as Lawrence mentioned, as everyone has the same game film with new pieces added across the board on both sides of the ball. There is a lot of newness, which creates an unknown for either team. However, it is the best plan that wins, and Lawrence feels the Jaguars have the one to beat the Panthers defense on Sunday.

"This defensive coordinator knows what he does, what he’s good at, what he wants to do, he knows that we know that, and there’s just mind games going back and forth about what they could possibly do, but you trust what you see," Lawrence said. "You put a good plan in place, which I think we’ve had a good start on, and we’re going to go play and adjust in-game if we need to."

What has helped Lawrence in his preparation has been using the tape from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' matchups against the Panthers last season when head coach Liam Coen was the offensive coordinator. Seeing the system in action against the Panthers defense gives Lawrence more context clues and ideas to work with in the game plan ahead of Sunday.

"Just to see, obviously, you can watch the other games, and you can tell what different offenses
are doing, but to see our system and the things they were doing, and be able to know exactly what they were running, what they were trying to run, what the can was, what the protection change was, to see all those things and know what they are, it does make watching it pretty valuable," Lawrence said.

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