Week 11 QB Index: Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence Slips After 49ers Performance

In the immediate aftermath of a three-turnover and five-sack performance, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence called last week's 34-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers one of the worst games of his career.

The numbers back it up, too. Despite a lack of true offensive fireworks throughout the first eight games, Lawrence had few clunkers. Count this as the newest and perhaps the worst one.

The third-year quarterback threw two interceptions and fumbled once, completing 58.6% of his passes for 185 yards (6.4 yards per attempt). Per Pro Football Reference, it was Lawrence's worst game of 2023 in quarterback rating (48.8), adjusted yards per attempt (3.28), adjusted net yards per pass attempt (1.97), sack percentage (14.71%), and bad throw % (25%).

In nine games this season, Lawrence has completed 67.3% for 2,190 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions, averaging 7.1 yards per attempt and a 89.3 passer rating.

As such, it is little surprise to see Lawrence slip two spots in this week's QB Index from NFL.com.

"Speeding up Lawrence is the way to beat him. It’s not a novel concept by any means, but it was clearly effective in Jacksonville’s loss to San Francisco. An under-pressure Lawrence started firing short-range fastballs to intended targets in the second half of the game, producing one of his two picks. When he’s flustered, Lawrence loses some of what makes him special, and against a good defense that denied even some of his best attempts, it made for a frustratingly disjointed experience for the QB in a blowout loss," NFL.com said. "His 17-of-29, 185-yard, two-interception passing line matched the tape. It’s not causing me to worry about Lawrence. I just believe San Francisco’s defense implemented a fantastic game plan for the matchup. Sometimes, that’s just how things go in this league."

The point made about the 49ers' game plan is a fair point. It isn't as much of an indictment on Lawrence as it is on the offense in general, but it is something the Jaguars will have to address to turn Lawrence's season around.

“I would imagine that’s a defensive philosophy for every quarterback. I think they’re saying that, whatever that may be," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said.

"Obviously, we’ve been pretty good at being able to deliver the ball to the first read when it comes down to it. I think Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] is 67-68 percent completion, something like that. A lot of that comes from being able to get the ball out early to your primary read, but no, it’s hitting quarterbacks, affecting quarterbacks, making quarterbacks hold the ball, that seems pretty universal for defending good quarterbacks.”

Here is where we will track Lawrence's rank in the QB Index each week:

Week 1: 7

Week 2: 5

Week 3: 6

Week 4: 11

Week 5: 18

Week 6: 11

Week 7: 8

Week 8: 7

Week 9: 8

Week 10: 8

Week 11: 10