‘That’s Trevor Lawrence’: Jaguars’ second-year quarterback on hot-streak during playoff push

Maybe it’s the jaw dropping passes that are fired off with supreme confidence

Maybe it’s the toughness to play through an injury that’s lingered for three weeks.

Maybe it’s his unwavering personality, whether he’s in a funk or playing lights out.

While that's all true, it's likely his resiliency — bred from the turnaround from a five-game losing streak — and high-caliber play that built the confidence in Trevor Lawrence from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ locker room as they try to secure a playoff spot.

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On Sunday, Lawrence fumbled while scrambling during the fourth quarter as the Jaguars trailed the Cowboys by three points with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation.

What could’ve turned into another talking point on Lawrence instead became a rallying cry for Jacksonville. As the second-year quarterback left the field, defensive players approached him to let him know he needed to be ready.

They told him they’d get the ball back and with three timeouts remaining, the game was not out of reach. And it wasn't as the Jaguars not only tied the game to send it to overtime but defeated Dallas in stunning fashion.

It marks the fourth time in the last six games they’ve rallied to win. According to Lawrence, the team's confidence just grows with each win.

“I think you look back at the Raiders game, being down and coming back and winning that game. That specifically, I would say, you start to see it happened with everyone,” he said Tuesday at TIAA Bank Field. “Everyone’s got each other's backs, there’s no panic. From there, we’ve got that confidence where we’re actually able to come back and win the game and finish.

“You have that confidence moving forward, then you go and do it against Baltimore where the offense had to go on a game winning drive and two-point conversion to win it. Then, it just builds even more, and I think guys see that.”

In his last five games Lawrence has completed 157 of 223 passes (70.4 percent) for 1,680 yards with 14 touchdowns and one interception. He’s delivered those numbers with a lingering toe injury that he picked up on the final play of the first half against Detroit.

He’s peaking and last week he talked candidly about the turning point of the season for him. Against Denver he threw two interceptions in a loss across the pond.

He talked about how it made him feel and how he's responded but his teammates took a different view.

“I see Trevor every day in practice, so when I see him work consistently, and I see him stay a little bit later, and when he shoots me a text about something he sees, or when he says, ‘Hey, can we get this throw again?’ Those are the things that his maturation as a leader and a quarterback in this league I’ve seen from respectfully other veteran quarterbacks, those are the things, those would be like the turning points for me,” wide receiver Zay Jones said Monday.

“I judge a man by how he comes to work every day and the things that he is able to do for his team, whether he’s battling through injury or that he’s going through something at home, whether he had a poor game last game, or whether he was written off last year,” Jones continued. “That’s kind of how I view who a man is, and Trevor Lawrence has proved to me, if not anyone that he is here, and he’s here to stay.”

Lawrence stayed true to self through ‘bumps and bruises’

Travis Etienne and Lawrence have had a relationship since their days competing for national championships at Clemson. The two were both selected in the first round of last year’s draft, but Etienne missed the duration of his rookie season due to a foot injury.

During training camp, Etienne crashed a Lawrence press conference and talked about their relationship, asking Lawrence how it felt to have him back using his towel in the huddle again among other inside jokes.

There’s no surprise from Etienne that Lawrence has evolved into the player he is now.

“I feel like he was just himself. He came here put his head down and went to work. He had his bumps,” Etienne said Tuesday in the locker room. “I think why people gravitate toward him so much is because whether he does good or whether he does bad, he's the same guy day in and day out and people love that he's humble.

“You’d never know he was a first-round pick — first draft pick — by the way he carries himself because he's so down to earth and can relate with anybody. I feel like that's why people gravitate toward him. And he's been the same guy since I met him.”

Even with some of the magic Lawrence is able to pull off (slipping out of surefire sacks, warping the ball through a defender’s arms, and layering passes to sail over the fingertips of defenders) Etienne isn’t surprised by his long-time teammate. He’s used to the mind-boggling plays and doesn’t even get excited when he sees it anymore.

“I mean, like back then [at Clemson] when I didn't know him. He was trying to just get a name for himself,” Etienne said. “I mean it kind of wowed me then, but now it’s just like, that's Trevor Lawrence. That’s just what he does, and it’s just second nature to me now.”

Top two picks of 2021 squaring off for second time

Lawrence was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2021 draft. On Thursday, he’ll face the Jets and quarterback Zach Wilson who was selected No. 2 overall in the same class.

It’ll be the second meeting between the top two picks and while comparisons of the two are going to be made, Lawrence wants no parts in them.

“I think that’s one thing you can’t do as a quarterback. I’m not playing against Zach, I’m playing against the Jets defense,” he said Tuesday. “It’s annoying when people always compare all that because it’s not what it’s about. It’s not how the game should be played. You just do whatever it takes to win the game.”

Lawrence and Wilson developed a relationship through the draft process last year. They both trained in California ahead of the draft and even used the same chef.

According to Lawrence the two have kept in touch “loosely” during the offseason and last year being rookies.

“We kind of kept in touch and I root for him,” Lawrence said. “We have a pretty good relationship. We’re not super close necessarily, but you know, I have a lot of respect for him.”

The Jaguars will travel to New York to take on the New York Jets on Thursday night on Amazon Prime in a battle between teams trying to gain playoff positioning.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Level Trevor Lawrence has Jaguars confident heading to New York Jets