By Tim Rausch
The elves are considered the noblest beings in “Lord of the Rings”.
Sublime and clever in dealing with other living beings, quick, precise and powerful in attack. When Trevor Lawrence, two meters tall and blowing his blond hair, stands in his pocket, undeterred by pressure or the game situation and dissects defensive moves move following move, then certain parallels cannot be denied.
Now, it doesn’t take a fantasy expert to realize that Trevor Lawrence has magic in his quiver. With the Jacksonville Jaguars, Lawrence has won four of his last five games and catapulted himself to the top of the AFC South.
The quarterback has completed almost 66 percent of his passes this season, has 3,749 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Especially over the last few weeks he has advanced to top form.
Jacksonville Jaguars: A lot of praise for Lawrence
“He’s gotten to a point where he can carry the team. He wants to lead the way, he wants to shoulder the team. That’s very promising,” head coach Doug Pederson is quoted as saying on the official NFL website.
Under Pederson’s leadership, the team was turned inside out: Away from a largely desolate and disorganized Urban Meyer offense to a well-structured offense adapted to Trevor Lawrence’s strengths.
“I’m really happy for Trevor. He kind of had to deal with Urban Meyer last year and I don’t even know if you can call that a real rookie year. To see this development now on and off the pitch makes me very happy.” , Jaguars safety Andrew Wingard analyzed a few weeks ago.
Lawrence: Efficient, fast and precise
On the offensive, Pederson relies on a higher beat with more fast completions and fewer, but calculated, vertical passes. On average, Lawrence releases the ball 2.5 seconds following the snap – 0.34 seconds faster than last year. Little time in real life, half an eternity in the NFL.
Screen passes (15 percent of all passes) and RPOs (nearly 10 percent) give Lawrence quick and easy reads. The receivers then regularly create yards on their own.
With passes that are thrown within the first 2.5 seconds, Lawrence shows an extremely high efficiency: Almost 75 percent of the balls end up in the hands of a receiver – for an average space gain of 6.8 yards. The Jaguars collected 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions along the way.
“He makes very good decisions. He can control and manage the game well now when it’s called for,” Pederson said following the recent win once morest the Jets.
Lawrence: Not just short passing king
But Lawrence isn’t just good at hand-to-hand combat, he repeatedly punishes defensive players with vertical passes. “He can play every inch of the turf. He throws with touch, anticipation and a quick release. He has all the physical abilities,” offensive coordinator press Taylor praised in a pre-season interview with “Go Long.”
The bumpy but powerful Big Time Throws statistic from the PFF analytics website measures how many passes a quarterback made with extremely high difficulty while still being thrown with the necessary precision. With deep passes (over 20 yards), Lawrence has already collected 20 such throws, only four quarterbacks have more on the account.
And he manages to do all of that despite the rollercoaster performance of his receivers this season. Although the wide receivers Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and tight end Evan Engram have shown very good performances at times, 33 drops are already on the account of the pass recipients. No quarterback has had more dropped passes this season. The offensive line also had its ups and downs.
Lawrence has been under pressure for just under a third of his dropbacks so far. Now and then the pressure became Lawrence’s undoing. Risky passes, interceptions and sacks were the consequences.
Jaguars: running game as another success factor
When the passing game falters, Doug Pederson can come back to the running game. Running back Travis Etienne hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark once morest the Jets and regularly puts up explosive runs.
Trevor Lawrence can also be involved with his athleticism. For example, once morest the Tennessee Titans, when he held linebacker Dylan Cole at bay with a stiff arm and dived into the end zone.
“It wasn’t planned that way. Etienne was supposed to run, but Trevor (Lawrence) seemed to see that the defense allowed him to make that move and then took the ball into his own hands,” said Pederson following the game.
Lawrence has had 290 yards and five touchdowns across the floor. This variability allows Pederson to regularly play fourth tries when just yards from the new first down. The Jags converted 14 of 27 fourth downs into a new first try, one of the better values in the league.
Jaguars vs. Titans on the last day of play
“We’re in a great position and I feel like the mentality has really changed here,” Lawrence said following the game once morest the Jets.
The starting position is as follows: The Titans and Jaguars both currently have a 7:8 balance, the Jaguars are currently ahead due to the tiebreakers. On the 17th game day they meet the Houston Texans, on the 18th game day there is a showdown in a direct duel with the Tennessee Titans. The winner advances to the playoffs, regardless of matchday 17 results.
Lawrence will be in demand with all his elf-like abilities. After all, it’s regarding a ring.
