The 2021 NFL season for the Jacksonville Jaguars(2-7) is about growing and getting better each and every week. Before Sunday’s 23-17 road loss to the Colts, Jacksonville had won two out of three after starting the season 0-5.
Against the Colts on Sunday, the Jaguars trailed 17-0 in the first quarter but were able to cut the lead to 20-17 in the fourth, but with the score 23-17 and less than a minute to go, Trevor Lawrence fumbled the ball on a scramble, and the Colts would hold on for the win.
Lawrence struggled on Sunday as he was 16/35 for 162 yards, and he was disappointed that he could not will his team to victory.
“I was super disappointed in how it ended,” Lawrence said. “[I] had the ball in my hands, and the game ended that way instead of us scoring and going up there, but the defense really rallied behind me. The locker room picked me up and just said, ‘stuff like that’s going to happen, and we all have to play better.’ [I] just appreciate those guys, and I think it’s cool the group we have. I know there’s a lot of times that fingers can start getting pointed at each, and you start bickering and kind of start turning on each other, and we haven’t done that at all. I think you’ve seen how we’ve gotten better every week and even last week.
“You have to finish those games, and that would’ve been huge for us, but moving forward, it’s like how much we’ve grown since Week 1. We get down 17-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter earlier in the season; I’m not sure how we would’ve responded. Just seeing how we fought back, stayed in the game, didn’t panic, and had a chance to win it, you see how much better we’ve gotten. We’re going to get there. We’re going to finish those games.”
Earlier in the season, Lawrence had issues with turnovers. In the first three games, he threw seven interceptions. In the next six games, he threw only three interceptions, so he has cleaned that up, and according to Lawrence, that has been his most significant improvement
“Obviously, I had some bad turnovers earlier in the year,” he said. “It took me a couple weeks, got those out of my system. But that’s one thing I try to pride myself on is being coachable and getting better. Obviously, there’s going to be new things every week. Some areas you might take a step back and be like, ‘Okay, I need to really hone in on that again and go back to the drawing board, work on that in practice.’ But then there’s some things that you consistently work on every week, and you just want to see that improvement. I think in general, just taking care of the ball, not putting it in harm’s way since the first couple games, that’s been the biggest improvement.”
Lawrence has to be better than he was on Sunday, but like the Jaguars, he’s a work in progress.
