Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence Audibled on Calvin Ridley's Big 3rd Down Catch vs. Bills
When Trevor Lawrence needed a big play in Sunday's game vs. the Buffalo Bills, he normally looked to one person: Calvin Ridley.
It was easy to see why, too. Ridley had put his early-season struggles behind him and was routinely getting open vs. a banged-up Buffalo secondary. On his first three third downs, Lawrence completed two passes to Ridley for 26 yards and also saw Ridley draw a 15-yard penalty.
But it was Ridley's final third-down catch that culminated everything that his and Lawrence's relationship is supposed to curate. With the Jaguars facing 3rd-and-4 with 3:15 left in an 18-13 ball game, Lawrence once again put his trust in Ridley. This time, though, it was the third-year quarterback making his own call to put the nail in the Bills' coffin.
"Yeah, I was kind of surprised they gave us that look," Lawrence said after the game. "It was something that -- every team has tendencies to get -- when they get to cover zero, it's usually a certain look and you're kind of ready for that. It wasn't necessarily the look I was expecting, but we saw it, and I knew it was going to be -- we were in empty, so there was going to be pressure, and when they pressure you in empty, especially zero, they've got one more than you can block.
"I knew I had to get -- signal to something, and then I saw they had everybody pressed across the board and had Micah, a safety on Calvin, so that's like a great matchup, dream matchup for us, so I was excited, and we just took the shot."
The big-time conversion was never supposed to go to Ridley -- at least not in that manner. But the Jaguars' franchise quarterback made it happen.
"Yeah, they went zero. They put a safety on me, and honestly, I think we were running, I think, but Trevor checked it. He saw the safety on me, gave me a good check, and we made a big play," Ridley said.
"Yeah, he's more than ready for those big moments. We trust Trevor no matter what. He's going to make the right read. He's going to do the right thing at the right time. Closer to the end of the game, you saw that he made some good plays, some great throws and good checks and put us in a position to win."