JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Trevor Lawrence is on a historic run; it might just be the best set of games ever played by a Jaguars quarterback. He just set the Jaguars’ single-season franchise record with 38 touchdowns and posted his third career 4,000 yard season.
He’s a big reason for the Jaguars success, success that includes five wins against playoff teams, second most in the NFL. Let’s take a look at just where Trevor Lawrence has shined and maybe where some of his weaknesses lie, at least according to NFL’s NextGenStats.
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Pressure vs. No Pressure
Coming out of college, many expected Trevor Lawrence to be one of the more creative, play-making quarterbacks in the NFL out of structure. And while glimpses of that have been seen, it hadn’t manifested itself on a consistent basis, until now.
Let’s check back in on how Larence is doing when comparing his numbers from a clean pocket and when pressured.
From a clean pocket, Trevor Lawrence has been surgical. On the year, he completed 65% of his passes for 3,056 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions. For reference that’s good for an NFL Rating of 99.1, 19th among the Top-33 QBs. His EPA/Play ranks 12th.
One would expect this to be higher, but he’s really come on as of late, particularly so in the last six games. Over the last six weeks, he’s completed 69.2% of his passes for 1180 yards, 13 TDs to zero interceptions. Those numbers are good for an insane 130.9 NFL Rating.
When he is under pressure, his numbers might not be as good, but it’s another area he has massively improved in. The stats don’t really do him a lot of justice because his legs have become such a threat.
On the year, Lawrence has completed just 50% of his passes under pressure for 951 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions. Those numbers are, admittedly, not good. His 69.5 NFL Rating ranks 20th among the Top-33 QBs, and his EPA/Play ranks 23rd.
Prior to the bye, Lawrence ranked 27th in EPA/Play outside of the pocket, however, since Week 10, he ranks 8th. Massive improvement yet again for Trevor Lawrence.
This is where Lawrence’s legs come into play. They have added yet another threat to an offense averaging over 30 points a game since the bye. Lawrence’s 40 first downs on the ground are third most in the NFL. He’s particularly deadly scampering on third and fourth down with 26 first downs (2nd most).
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Blitz vs. No Blitz
Trevor Lawrence’s numbers without the blitz are pretty middle of the road, 61% completion rate, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions for an NFL Rating of 83.9. For some context, he ranks 26th in NFL Rating and 24th in EPA/Play.
Against the blitz, however, is the area where Trevor Lawrence has maybe improved most, especially as of late. On the year, Lawrence has completed 62% of his passes for 1,407 yards, 13 TDs to just three interceptions. That’s good for a 107.8 NFL Rating (9th) and the 6th best EPA/Play.
Over the last six games, he’s been even better, completing 68.7% of his passes for 664 yards, 6 TDs to zero interceptions and an NFL Rating of 130.4 For some reason, teams are only blitzing him more and more frequently.
Much of his success has been his own doing at the line of scrimmage as well, checking the play-call to put the offense into more advantageous situations. Liam Coen mentioned this last week after the Jaguars’ win against the Colts.
Play-Action vs. No Play-Action
The third and final segment we will look at regarding Trevor Lawrence’s season is play-action.
The Jaguars are league-average in their use of play-action so there’s not much to take away there, nor is there much to take away after seeing his numbers. There’s very little difference in Lawrence’s play between play-action and no play-action.
With play-action, Lawrence is completing 55% of his passes for 1,019 yards, seven touchdowns to just one interception. His 91.9 NFL Rating ranks 25th and his EPA/Play ranks 16th. It’s a bit lower this season than the rest of his career.
Without play-action, Lawrence is charting a 63% completion rate, 22 touchdowns to 11 interceptions for an NFL Rating of 90.7, 20th in the NFL. He ranked 16th in EPA/Play on non play-action dropbacks, the exact same as with play-action.
It should be noted that nearly all of Trevor Lawrence’s rushing success throughout his career has come out without the use of play-action, including all 23 of his rushing touchdowns.
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