As expected, Trevor Lawrence wasn't named league MVP, but that doesn't mean the Jacksonville Jaguars have a bad quarterback, far from it. No. 16 was always going to face an uphill battle to take home the award after his slow start to the season. That said, he's playing his best football right now, and the timing couldn't be better.
The Jags are slated to face off against the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. Josh Allen is getting plenty of attention from the game, which is understandable when you take into account that he's one of the top-3 quarterbacks in the NFL. However, Lawrence isn't far off, and a respected analyst believes he's ready for primetime.
Trevor Lawrence has improved since the Jaguars hired Liam Coen
NFL analyst Greg Cosell took a look at Trevor Lawrence ahead of the Bills playoff game and said that the Liam Coen influence is evident, noting that he's shown notable improvement since his arrival.
"One of the things that's really stood out about Trevor Lawrence, and this is where I think the Liam Coen influence has really come in, much of his career, and even early in this season, until he got more and more comfortable with Liam Coen, Trevor Lawrence was not very good throwing the ball between the numbers," Cosell stated. "It's as if, to me, he didn't see it clearly. It wasn't defined for them."
Cosell continued, "And all of a sudden, over the last six, seven weeks, whatever the number of weeks, man, their past game is working so well between the numbers, and that opens up so many other things in your offense. Again, I'm not picking games. Buffalo has a pedigree. Josh Allen can be Josh Allen anytime we know that, but I just look at the Jaguars right now with their offense and their defense, and they're just a fun team for me to watch."
As Cosell stated, Lawrence has always shown that he can play at a high level. However, he hasn't been consistent enough throughout his career. Even under Coen's tutelage, he struggled a bit to hit his stride. But after the BYE, he's put it all together and showed the consistency he's lacked in past years, completing 63.0 percent of his throws for 1,600 yards with 15 touchdowns with just one interception.
The Jaguars will need Trevor Lawrence to show out vs. the Bills
The Jaguars will need Trevor Lawrence's strong finish to carry over into the playoffs if they want to have a shot at beating Buffalo. Sure, the Jacksonville defense has a favorable matchup against the Bills receiver corps, but Josh Allen has proven that he can put his team on his shoulders. That may force the former Clemson Tiger to get into a shoutout.
If it comes to that, Lawrence has better weapons than his Bills counterpart, but it would all be moot if he doesn't take his game to the next level against the Bills.
The bottom line is that the Jaguars have several things going in their favor against Buffalo. But the stakes are higher in the playoffs, and the last thing they want is to see Trevor Lawrence fail to come up clutch.