Trevor Lawrence changing to sneak at 1-yard line backfires on Jaguars to cap brutal day
Trevor Lawrence tried to play the hero with the Jaguars season on the line.
It didn’t go as planned in the Jacksonville’s 28-20 loss to the Titans.
On a crucial fourth-and-goal on the Titans’ 1-yard line, Lawrence decided to change what was supposed to be a handoff to a quarterback sneak while Jacksonville trailed 28-20 with just over seven minutes left in the game.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson told reporters that he had called for the handoff, but Lawrence made the change on the fly and the QB explained that he had been successful in scoring on it “four or five times” in the past.
This time, however, Lawrence was stopped short of the end zone and failed to score on the Jags’ best scoring opportunity the rest of the afternoon.
“They trust me with those things,” Lawrence told reporters. “It didn’t work. I gotta take accountability for that. At the end of the day, it’s on me. If I decide to do it and don’t get it — It’s one of those plays, if you do it you better score and I didn’t. It’s unfortunate.”
Matters were made even worse during the Jaguars’ final drive of the game, when Lawrence couldn’t connect with wide-open Calvin Ridley for a deep pass on second-and-2 that would have at least put them in Tennessee territory.
He threw two more incompletions on the drive, which included a fourth-and-2 pass that sailed over the head of Evan Engram.
Lawrence threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns of 29-for-43 passing along with throwing two interceptions in his first game back from a sprained right AC joint.
The loss was a one-two punch to the gut of the Jaguars, who not only lost out on winning the AFC South with the defeat but also were eliminated from the playoffs altogether.
The Texans captured the division title after Jacksonville had dominated the AFC South through their first 11 games of the season, going 8-3.
