Head-turning stat proves Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence is delivering high-end play

I don't know about you, but a lot of us are still impressed that the Jacksonville Jaguars completely dominated the New York Jets. Even though some of the team's critics are a bit sour, the rest of us are enjoying the good times anyway we can get 'em.

One of the best times we've seen in a long time was Trevor Lawrence's day behind center for the Jags. The fifth-year gunslinger threw five passing touchdowns and ran for another as he put on one of the best single-game performances in NFL history.

Many of us were clamoring for Lawrence to reach the potential we were promised when he was the most coveted prospect of the 2021 draft class, but the skills he displayed in Week 15 showed the immense potential of Liam Coen's highly-touted system. If the passing offense's prolific output holds up, the narrative surrounding Jacksonville's franchise QB would change in an instant.

Trevor Lawrence pumped out a performance the Jacksonville Jaguars haven't seen in decades

The Jets had no answer for Lawrence and the rest of the Jaguars' offense. When the dust finally settled, the boxscore showed that the Jags gained 438 total yards of offense, with 330 of those being through the air. The game was also the Jags' first time breaking the 40-point barrier this season, which made me very happy. However, Nate Tice from Yahoo Sports and The Ringer's Sheil Kapadia tweeted out some advanced figures that highlight just how amazing No. 16 was.

According to the two sports journalists, Jacksonville's Expected Points Added per pass play and EPA per dropback cemented Lawrence's performance as the best game of his career. Simply put, EPA measures the influence any given play has on an offense's likelihood to score.

High-impact plays, like 20-yard passes on third-and-2, significantly improve a unit's EPA-per-play numbers. On the flipside, a turnover inside their own 20-yard line would give a team a negative EPA-per-play score.

When adding the metric's standard definition to Tice's EPA per dropback analysis, we can see how Jacksonville's passing offense consistently improved the team's likelihood of reaching the end zone. The Jags didn't allow a sack or throw an interception all day. I'm referring to the latter as a team accomplishment because Nick Mullens got a lot of play time once garbage time commenced.

While Tice's stat, on its face, is phenomenal, the historic significance of it is even greater. Lawrence's execution produced numbers we haven't seen since Mark Brunell and Jamie Martin laid it on the Arizona Cardinals 25 years ago. Amazingly, that includes the 2007 season, the infamous 2017 Sacksonville campaign, and the miraculous run the team went on during Doug Pederson's first season as the team's head coach in 2022.

Related: 10 best quarterbacks in Jags' history

How high does Trevor Lawrence's ceiling as the Jaguars' franchise quarterback go?

One of Clemson University's most famous sons was struggling to establish himself as a top signal-caller in the NFL before his coming-of-age moment against the Jets. After Week 15, Lawrence's numbers (and his team's record) show that he is, in fact, a Top 10 QB going into the final three games of the season.

PFF's database shows that Lawrence's 79.6 overall grade is the ninth-best score among the 42 signal callers evaluated. If we're using passing touchdowns as the metric of choice, his 23 tosses actually make him a Top 5 player at the position.

With games against the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, and Tennessee Titans left on the schedule, Trevor Lawrence will have numerous opportunities to prove his doubters wrong and compile 30 scores through the air for the first time in his pro career. If that happens, the 26-year-old star and his 40-year-old head coach will be on some shortlists at the end of the year. However, something tells me that those two are way more concerned about playing football in February than seeing their names in the headlines.