Trevor Lawrence moves down in QB rankings following disastrous outing

You won’t find a shortage of hot takes in the NFL that quickly become colder than ice. For example, Carson Wentz doesn’t look so great after having a pretty good outing in the opener. On the other hand, the Green Bay Packers went on to show that their Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings wasn’t as bad as it seemed at the time. Then, there are those that believe Trevor Lawrence is a bust following his subpar performance to the Philadephia Eagles.

There’s no doubt Lawrence played a historically bad game, losing four fumbles and throwing one interception. Surprisingly, the Jaguars were in the game and still had a chance to beat the Eagles. Nevertheless, the former Clemson Tiger threw the pick that seal with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Analysts aren’t overreacting to one bad game though and while Lawrence moved down a few spots in a couple of power rankings, it wasn’t a steep drop. Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports gave him the 16th (down from 14th) spot in his ranking following the Jaguars’ loss to Philly. Similarly, Marc Sessler of NFL Media placed the sophomore signal-caller at 17th, outside the top half but still in the top 20. Here’s what Sessler had to say about Lawrence.

"“Let’s hope it’s a blip”, coach Doug Pederson said of Lawrence losing an absurd four fumbles against the Eagles, the most by any player in a game since 1991, per NFL Research. The first one happened in a space on the run, the second came off a botched snap, the third when Lawrence failed to see pressure, and the fourth off a strip in the pocket. Lawrence also tossed an interception on a throw that saw him stare down his target. Awful weather was a factor, but Lawrence and his 10-inch hand must learn from Sunday’s rain-soaked misadventure. “"

Trevor Lawrence should have no trouble bouncing back

Rain or not, Lawrence had a bad game. There’s no way around it. Of course, head coach Doug Pederson nor his teammates are going to throw him under the bus. What good would that do? Instead of pointing fingers, the quarterback accepted responsibility for his mistakes and will work on fixing them.

Similarly, Jaguars players are going to rally behind Lawrence. That’s what teammates do. You won’t see the young passer calling his teammates out when they miss a tackle or allow a touchdown. Rather, they support each other and let them know that one play won’t make or break them.

Contrary to what you might see on social media, players in any sports do have bad games. Lawrence had his in Week 4. That doesn’t mean he’s a bust. Simply, he took a step back in his development after taking several forward in previous weeks. And that’s the thing, he’s improved so much that you can tell last week’s horrible outing was the exception, not the norm.

Trevor Lawrence is poised to be a top 15 quarterback by the end of the 2022 season and his performance in Week 4 was just a slight setback on the way.