Ever since the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Trevor Lawrence, he's been under severe scrutiny. Then again, that's understandable when you take into account that he was the first overall pick. Moreover, No. 16 was dubbed the most talented quarterback to come out of the collegiate ranks since Andrew Luck. When you add it all up, every mistake he makes will be magnified, and not surprisingly, his play has been the subject of debate after the 36-29 collapse against the Houston Texans.
Lawrence went 13-of-23 for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Up until the fourth quarter, that looked like that would be enough to come out on top. However, the Houston offense suddenly showed signs of life and went on to score 19 unanswered points. There's no doubt that the defense and the underwhelming pass rush deserve plenty of blame for not being able to stop the Davis Mills-led Texans. That said, No. 16 isn't free of fault.
In the fourth quarter, the Jacksonville offense wasn't able to protect a 19-point lead. Granted, the offensive line couldn't block. On the other hand, Lawrence doesn't get a free pass. As the quarterback, he has the biggest impact on the outcome of the game, and when the Jags needed him the most, the former Clemson Tiger failed to come through. This begs the question, just how much blame does he truly deserve?
The Jaguars have bigger issues than Trevor Lawrence (but he isn’t helping)
The Jaguars gave up six sacks and 20 pressures against the Texans. In the fourth quarter alone, they allowed three sacks and a 100 percent pressure rate. You'll be hard-pressed to find a quarterback who's going to thrive under those circumstances.
Walker Little, in particular, struggled to contain Will Anderson. You can see in the clock below that Trevor Lawrence had less than two seconds to throw the football.
Having said that, it's hard to imagine that Lawrence and the Jacksonville offense mustered one paltry yard in the fourth quarter. Yes, the defense deserves blame for failing to stop Davis Mills, but if the fifth-year quarterback had completed a few more passes and moved the chains a couple times, the outcome of the game might've been different, and we would be talking about how resilient Lawrence and the Jaguars were. But that wasn't the case.
Nate Burleson doesn't think Trevor Lawrence has a future with the Jaguars
Nate Burleson of CBS Sports, for his part, says that he can no longer wait for Trevor Lawrence to show he's the quarterback everyone thought, adding that he has a hard time imagining the Jaguars moving forward with him.
"Listen, I would never dare call for a player's job. You know, I'm part of this brotherhood, this fraternity. That's not my style on TV," Burleson said after the loss to the Texans. "But there are some questions about a handful of quarterbacks going into the later part of this season. We're talking November, December football, where the quarterbacks themselves are going to answer those questions."
Burleson continued, "It's not going to be us as media heads, pundits saying, 'will or won't they be there on the roster,' but Trevor Lawrence, we've been wondering for quite some time. Who is he? This was a big game. They needed this 113, for 23, you know, under 200 yards, one touchdown, one pick. It's just tough to see this organization moving forward with a guy that they may not be 100% confident in."
Now, it's hard to tell how the Jaguars truly feel about Lawrence, but Liam Coen has publicly stood right behind him, and rightly so. He's not the team's biggest concern right now, and they can truly assess him.
On the other hand, you cannot wait until Trevor Lawrence has the perfect supporting cast to have an opinion on him. And if he were playing better, there wouldn't be questions about his future in Jacksonville. For now, all he can do is turn the page and try to get better.