Jaguars faith in Trevor Lawrence hasn’t wavered following Texans loss

It’s perfectly fine to feel ticked off or disappointed after watching the Jacksonville Jaguars lose 13-6 to the Houston Texans, especially when you take into account that they were the better team (on paper) entering Week 5. However, the Texans proved to be resilient and left TIAA Bank Field with their first win of the year.

There are several reasons why the Jags fell to Houston but Trevor Lawrence’s uninspiring play was a big reason why. He overthrew several passes early in the game and when the Jags finally got into the Texans’ red zone in the third quarter, he threw a pick directly into cornerback Derek Stingley’s hands.

Sure, drops by wide receiver Zay Jones and tight end Evan Engram didn’t help matters but Lawrence couldn’t find a rhythm throughout the game. He did make several throws for big games. However, he couldn’t get down when it mattered the most.

With the game on the line and down 13-6, Lawrence attempted a Hail Mary that fell into cornerback Desmond King’s arms, effectively putting an end to the Jaguars’ comeback attempt. The former Clemson Tiger finished the game with a 53.19 completion rate for 286 passing yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Jaguars aren’t worried about Trevor Lawrence following Texans loss

It’s easy to pile up on Lawrence following the loss. As the quarterback, he can have the biggest impact on the outcome of the game and this is the second consecutive week that he could have tied the game but fell short. However, head coach Doug Pederson believes he will bounce back.

Pederson met with the media following the loss to the Texans and said that the coaching staff must keep putting Lawrence in a position to succeed. Similarly, he thinks the second-year quarterback will be alright.

“We’ve got as a staff, we have to figure out a way to kind of get him to settle into the game”, Pederson said. “And then, obviously, make sure he’s in a good spot. The thing is he sees everything, he sees the field”.

“We just got to continue to keep throwing and keep putting him in situations like that. He’s going to get better, he will get better. I’m not worried about that at all. We have a lot of faith and trust in him and he can definitely do the job. We’ve seen it this season, we just got to keep working on it”, Pederson said.

Hitting the panic button is certainly tempting following losses in back-to-back weeks but giving up on Lawrence so early in the season (and his career) feels like an overreaction. Having said that, there’s definitely a reason for concern, and something is not right. Otherwise, you would be hearing about him being a top-notch quarterback. Instead, the talk is centered around his puzzling decision-making over the last two weeks.

This was supposed to be a bounce-back game for Lawrence and the Jags. But it instead signaled the beginning of a losing skid. If the Pederson can’t turn things around next week, you can then start talking about going into panic mode.