Trevor Lawrence learned to shrug off the praise and is now working to deflect the criticism

Trevor Lawrence was 68-0 during regular seasons as a high school and college quarterback and 96-4 overall. As such, he was revered at Cartersville (Ga.) High and Clemson and hardly ever heard his name taken in vain.

It never went to his head, according to former Jaguars teammate Gardner Minshew.

"Great dude. Super humble," Minshew said earlier this season before the Jaguars played his current team, the Philadelphia Eagles. "He's been told how good he is his whole life. He doesn't carry that around with him."

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But now that the Jaguars' current five-game losing streak has dropped Lawrence's win-loss record as an NFL quarterback to 5-20, and he's never been more criticized than he has been this season — especially after throwing two costly interceptions in last week's 21-17 loss in London to the Denver Broncos.

How, then, is Lawrence handling the external noise now that universal praise ("generational quarterback") has turned to widespread condemnation, with words such as "bust" being tossed around?

Pretty much the same way — by immersing himself in a game week, in this case against the Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field (1 p.m., CBS).

"It's every week trying to put the best plan together and prepare my best so I can go play my best on Sunday," Lawrence said Wednesday after the Jaguars (2-6) practiced at TIAA Bank Field. "That doesn't change this week, no matter what the criticism is. Good or bad, when we're playing well I'm going to get too much credit and when we're not playing well ... sometimes too much blame. It's part of the job. It's part of this game."

Pederson speaks from experience

Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said his message to Lawrence has been to let him know that he's not alone. NFL quarterbacks are the lightning rods for criticism and none have ever been immune, even those with Super Bowl rings on their fingers and busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"Every NFL quarterback ... is going to go through adversity, scrutiny ... everything’s under a microscope," said Pederson, who played the position for 12 years with five NFL teams. "That’s something I can help him with. I know the staff can help him with and try to put most of this behind him."

Pederson quickly added that he and his staff don't need to put forth a gigantic effort in that regard, since Lawrence has the maturity to keep the outside noise at bay.

"He does a nice job of sort of compartmentalizing things and kind of keeping things on the back burner and focusing on his job," Pederson said. "That’s what we expect, and I know he’ll do that."

The criticism of Lawrence, ranging from disgruntled fans on social media to national media who are jumping off the bandwagon, has stemmed mainly from interceptions inside the opposition's 10-yard line in losses of 13-6 to Houston and last week to Denver.

He has also had three turnovers on final possessions in one-possession losses to Washington, Philadelphia and the Broncos.

Lawrence has improved

Lost in the rush to bash the second-year quarterback is the fact that he is on track to improve every passing statistic from his rookie season — except the most important one, victories.

Last season, he threw for 3,641 yards, 12 touchdowns, completed 59.6% of his passes, had 17 interceptions and 32 sacks, with a passer rating of 71.9.

At his current pace, Lawrence will throw for 3,910 yards, 21 touchdowns, a .625 completion percentage, 13 interceptions and 25 sacks, and a passer rating of 84.8.

He also led the Jaguars to three fourth-quarter touchdowns and the lead against Washington (11:45 left in the game), Indianapolis (2:44) and the Broncos (3:54) only to watch the defense give it right back on four TD drives totaling 314 yards.

However, the measure of every NFL quarterback will be winning and the Jags' record is the same through eight games as last season at this point.

Lawrence also isn't alone in struggling among what was thought to be an outstanding quarterback class of 2021 — and has better numbers this season in most categories than his counterparts.

While the New York Jets are 4-1 with Zach Wilson as a starter, he has only three TD passes and five interceptions. He's the only first-round quarterback drafted in 2021 with a winning record so far this season.

Mac Jones has been benched at New England and is 2-3 as a starter, with three TD passes and seven interceptions. Trey Lance of the 49ers is out for the season with an ankle injury and is 2-2 as a starter in the four career games he's played.

The Bears are 3-5 under Justin Fields.

Lawrence has more TD passes (10), yards (1,840) and a better passer rating (84.8) than any of the first-round rookie quarterbacks from 2021. Only Jones has a better completion percentage (65.9% to Lawrence's 62.4%).

Team remains together

Lawrence said the locker room remains unified.

"There's definitely frustration and guys talk about it but I think that's a great thing about our team, is guys communicate," he said. "You don't put on a smile, act like everything's all right because it's not. Everybody's p----d off and frustrated but not at each other. There's no pointing the finger but we all understand and have had that dialogue of what we need to do ... we just got to go do it."

If Lawrence is having any crisis of confidence it's a feeling that he has let his teammates down with mistakes in crucial situations.

"I know I didn't give us the best chance to win and I'm disappointed in that," he said. "Guys work too hard for that. What I can do is go play my best football moving forward."

Pederson said he has counsel he can give Lawrence based on his playing days and from trying to help Carson Wentz, whom he coached at Philadelphia.

Wentz and Pederson both came under heavy criticism in the two seasons after the Eagles won the Super Bowl, when Wentz had a 17-21-1 record as a starter.

Pederson was fired and Wentz shipped to Indianapolis after the 2020 season.

"I think, No. 1, you’ve got to be honest with the player," Pederson said. "You’ve got to have constructive dialogue with him and really with all your players and your team. I never want to be someone wants to try to kind of sugarcoat anything. We’re going to work through everything together, and that’s what we do. We dig ourselves out of whatever we’re in and continue to improve.”

Lawrence agreed that climbing out of the Jags' rut will be, like anything in football, a team effort.

"I have a lot of faith in myself and this team, so I just blocked out [the criticism] and just try to do my job as best I can every day," Lawrence said. "I really only care about the opinions of my coaches, my teammates and obviously myself."

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence trying to stay focused under fire