Is Trevor Lawrence Pressing? Doug Pederson, Jaguars Star QB Weigh In

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Trevor Lawrence weigh in on the quarterback's play.

Sep 23, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) throws against the Buffalo Bills during the first half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Little has gone right for Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense in 2024.

The Jaguars rank No. 30 in points scored this year with just 40, No. 24 in yards per play, No. 27 in touchdown pass rate, No. 26 in adjusted net yards per attempt, No. 30 in third-down conversion rate, No. 27 in red-zone rate ... in short, nothing is really working.

And when things go wrong offensively, two people normally get the blame: the quarterback and the play-caller.

Due to the Jaguars' pentagon-level secrecy on who calls plays, that means most fingers for the offensive issues have been pointed directly at Lawrence, right or wrong.

The common argument has been that Lawrence has pressed at times; tried to go for too many home runs and not enough doubles. But is that how Lawrence and Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson see it?

“There’s times when you kind of get locked in there, you want to make something happen so bad that you kind of force an issue," Pederson said on Wednesday.

"Even as sideways as the game got Monday night, I think sometimes you’ve just got to continue to – if it’s not there put it in play, if it’s not there put it in play, and try to work yourself back into the football game that way. You’re not going to get it all back in one play. Sometimes you can get caught up doing that.”

Lawrence was posed the same question about pressing on Friday, with the fourth-year quarterback offering a different perspective.

“No, I actually don’t think so. I think there's been times where I've been a little undisciplined with my eyes. I've maybe been a little sped up in some of my progressions. So maybe a little bit of that for sure," Lawrence said.

"I think a few times my feet have gotten sloppy, have caused some of my passes to not go exactly where I wanted them to. Then there's times where the defense is going to win, and they have a better call than we do at times. So that happens every game, every year. I mean, that's just going to happen. Do the next best thing with the ball, whether that's throwing it away, finding the underneath guy and giving him a chance to run, maybe get it to him earlier so he can catch it with space."

Lawrence went on to note that there have been issues with his play; he has frequently said he needs to play better in 2024. But pressing and trying to force the issue is not one of them.

"So, I don't think it's been an issue of me trying to force the issue. I think that there's been a couple throws I've missed throughout the year. There's been a couple times where progression wise, I've got a little too far ahead of myself or thought I saw something I didn't see, and I think those are majority of the mistakes," Lawrence said.

"But just got to keep trusting it. I think that's the main thing is keep trusting it. Trust what I see, trust my progression and just get the ball to our playmakers. They're going to make plays. So, we’ve got to continue doing that and staying on schedule.”

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