JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Coming off a five-game stretch playing the best football of his career, Trevor Lawrence will be tested on Sunday against the NFL’s second-ranked passing defense.
The Cowboys have allowed 182.4 yards per game this season, trailing only Philadelphia’s passing defense. So, who wins? The red-hot quarterback or the stingy defense? We’ll find out on Sunday, but the Jaguars’ passing game is in sync right now. That includes the way Doug Pederson and Lawrence are communicating.
“I’m getting a better feel, obviously, for what he likes, and what he’s comfortable with,” Pederson said. “And so we put game plans together that way, too. So he has, you know, a lot of confidence in the plays and what we’re calling. It just comes with time and understanding who he is, and understanding my mindset too, sometimes.”
Over his last five games, Lawrence has thrown 10 touchdowns and no interceptions. He was named AFC offensive player of the week this week for the second time this year. And he’s keeping his receivers engaged. One week it’s Christian Kirk. The next it’s Zay Jones. Sunday in Tennessee it was tight end Evan Engram who enjoyed a career day. It’s all working for Lawrence right now.
“I do feel like he is really understanding what we’re trying to get done as an offense,” Pederson said. “If you think the same, that definitely helps. You call a play, and it may not be the best play at the time but you ask your quarterback to kind of bail you out. And he’s been able to do that.”
Even when things don’t go as planned, they’ve worked out for the Jaguars recently. See Lawrence’s touchdown run in Nashville. It was never intended as a quarterback option, but it turned into one and Lawrence made the best of it. But what has happened the past five games won’t help Lawrence on Sunday against the Cowboys. It’s not a must-win game for the Jaguars’ playoff hopes, but it would be a huge victory, the franchise’s first in 20 games against an NFC opponent. The synergy with Pederson has shown nearly-constant improvement over the course of the season.
It’s as much about the football relationship growing between the coach and the quarterback.
“Not even talking about football, he’s a really smart offensive mind, he played the position,” Lawrence said. “But it’s the way he carries himself. I’ve been saying that ever since he came here. Especially the way our season has gone. It’s been up and down. That’s one thing, someone that stable. He’s always the same. He doesn’t change. The plan doesn’t change.”
In his first season as the Jaguars’ head coach, Pederson has the Jaguars facing some playoff scenarios in the middle of December. Pederson acknowledges the regret of losing close games early in the year, games that could have the Jaguars atop the AFC South if all went well. Still, there is a path to the playoffs with four games remaining.
“Where the team is mentally this time of the year, where the team is physically this time of the year, where the team is, I think, from a health standpoint, this time of year, all those things are pluses for us,” Pederson said. “One of the things that I think for me is this group, the way they practice during the week, how they prepare and get themselves ready to play. That’s what you want to see as a head coach.”
Pederson updated the injury situation with rookie outside linebacker Travon Walker who has a high ankle sprain and is listed as day-to-day. Walker made one of the big defensive plays against the Titans, sacking Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill and forcing a fumble.