By Ben Arthur
FOX Sports AFC South Writer
Trevor Lawrence stated all the right things.
After his group’s 29-21 roadway loss Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles, thanks mostly to his 5 turnovers, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback took responsibility for his miscues. He wouldn’t blame the sideways rain or the damp ball in Philadelphia for the freegifts. The bad exchange with center Luke Fortner on the stoppedworking (and fumbled) QB sneak in the 2nd quarter? Lawrence pointed at himself.
“It begins with me,” he stated.
As do the Jaguars’ hopes of continuing to program the NFL world that they’re the genuine offer.
Jacksonville (2-2) appears to be a group on the increase under brand-new coach Doug Pederson. But to show it hasactually enhanced sufficient to be a genuine competitor in the AFC South this season — that the 2 straight wins of 20-plus points were asign of a rapid ascension — Lawrence needto program that he can rapidly flush out an abysmal efficiency. It’s what fantastic quarterbacks do.
Last season’s No. 1 general choice, Lawrence had the finest two-game stretch of his young profession previous to Sunday, finishing 76.8% of his passes for 497 backyards and 5 goals with no interceptions in convincing success over the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers.
What has worked? An reliable, intermediate death videogame where the wealth is shared.
Receiver Christian Kirk, signed to a big-money offer in complimentary firm, hasactually been the No. 1 choice, leading the Jaguars in receptions (20), getting backyards (327) and getting goals (3). But in both wins, 5 pass-catchers had at least 3 receptions. Even on the roadway versus the Washington Commanders, where they had a possibility to win with simply over a minute left, the Jaguars had 4 gamers with at least 4 receptions.
According to Next Gen Stats, Lawrence’s passer score hasactually been muchbetter than league-average in 5 areas: Deep middle (20+ lawns), left intermediate (10 to 20 lawns), brief middle (0 to 10 lawns), brief best and behind the line of skirmish to his . He has likewise been getting the ball out of his hands rapidly. Through 4 videogames, 2.64 seconds haveactually expired on average from the snap to the time he tosses, connected for fifth-fastest in the league.
How rapidly the ball was getting out of Lawrence’s hands versus the Eagles (2.52 seconds on typical, per Next Gen Stats) was a moot point, . His 5 turnovers led to 22 points for Philadelphia.
In addition to the freegifts, Lawrence hit simply 11 of 23 passes (47.8%) for 173 lawns and 2 goals, both to receiver Jamal Agnew.
“Let’s hope it’s a blip,” Pederson stated Monday of Lawrence’s Week 4 efficiency. “I puton’t think it’s a problem. … You simply hate to state it, however possibly it’s one of those videogames throughout the season where simply absolutelynothing goes . It takesplace. You neverever make reasons. We have to do a muchbetter task of hanging on to the football. He understands that.”
The Jaguars host the Houston Texans (0-3-1), the NFL’s just winless group, this week. The match provides a possibility for Jacksonville to do what excellent groups do: control bad groups.
The Texans’ hasahardtime in endingup videogames present a huge chance for the Jaguars’ defense, which is connected for 3rd in takeaways and 4th in points permitted. Running backs Cam Robinson and Travis Etienne, alongwith the offensive line, oughtto likewise appearance to control Houston, which has the NFL’s second-worst run defense.
But it begins with Lawrence. He needsto secure the ball and attack a Texans pass defense that hasactually revealed vulnerability with the surgical accuracy we saw in Weeks 2 and 3. Through Sunday, Houston ranked in the bottom half of the league in lawns permitted per pass effort (22nd), death veryfirst downs enabled (23rd) and general pass defense (19th).
“We’re simply going to keep battling to show to ourselves that we can be the group that we understand we can be,” Kirk stated Sunday. “When we’re at our finest, we feel like we can play with anyone.”
In Weeks 1 and 4, the Jaguars had the ball at the end of policy with the possibility to win or tie. Both times ended in Lawrence turnovers. In the season opener versus the Commanders, it was an interception. Against the Eagles, it was a sack fumble.
How will Lawrence discover success in end-of-game scenarios? More representatives, Pederson stated.
He thinks Lawrence is one of the great quarterbacks in the league. And Pederson understands that the unique ones — people like Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and others — all desire the ball in their hands at the end of videogames.
“We desire to make sure that when we do have the football at the end, we stay aggressive and keep that mindset, specifically at the quarterback position,” Pederson stated.
“Everybody kind of trips his coattails down the field [to] rating and win the videogame.”
Ben Arthur is the AFC South pressreporter for FOX Sports. He formerly worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat author for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for 3 seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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