Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence becomes media darling after win vs. Ravens

As the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Trevor Lawrence didn’t get nearly as much attention as he should have in his rookie year though no fault of his own. Fast forward to Year 2 and his improved play has helped him get the spotlight more often. In fact, analysts are talking about him non-stop following the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 28-27 win vs. the Ravens in Week 12.

Winning in the NFL requires a team effort and although Trevor Lawrence wasn’t the sole reason the Jags beat the Ravens, he played a key role, especially in the fourth quarter. Laurie Fitzpatrick of The Touchdown Wire broke down some of his best throws of the game and Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders talked about how impressive his execution was in the game-winning drive.

Chris Simms of NBC Sports thinks this was the kind of game Lawrence had been missing in his short NFL career.

“Trevor Lawrence made a statement to me last weekend”, Simms said. “Beating the Baltimore Ravens the way he did, being down like that in the fourth quarter. And again, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, miracle plays’ or ‘we got lucky with this or that’. It was just one pretty unbelievable jaw-dropping throw after another. It’s the only thing I think we hadn’t seen from Trevor Lawrence in his career”.

“We’ve seen good games, and ‘oh, wow, it’s all going in the right direction’. And we’ve seen moments. The only thing I’ve been saying is we haven’t seen the wow, ‘hey, get back home, get on my shoulders, guys. I’m the No. 1 pick, I’m gonna get it done and make a number of big-time throws and big moments and help us win the game’. He did that, he delivered big time. I was in amazement watching the game back yesterday”, Simms said.

Lawrence went 29-of-37 for 321 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in Week 12. Since losing to the Denver Broncos in Week 8, a game in which he throw two costly picks, the Jaguars are 2-1 and he’s completed 78.85 percent of his passes for 815 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. Here’s Simms’ full assessment of Lawrence.

The national media is rightfully talking about Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence

Keep in mind that Simms has changed his tune about Lawrence. Although he’s spoken mostly positive things about Lawrence over the last two years, he thought Zach Wilson was the better prospect of the two coming out of college. While this is a cold take in retrospect, Simms isn’t wrong when he says the former Clemson Tiger hadn’t shown he could carry the team on his shoulder and lead them to a win.

B&T’s own Jeff Tice pointed out that Lawrence had made strides in Year 2 but was still missing that one “wow game”. He got it against the Ravens, putting any doubts about him potentially being a franchise quarterback to rest.

Of course, Lawrence’s just getting started. There are still six games left in the season but he showed against the Ravens that he can be clutch with the game on the line, something he hadn’t been able to do before Sunday.