Not all of Trevor Lawrence's biggest plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars make it onto the highlight reel.
Often, the biggest plays are ones where there's no play to make at all — simply living to play the next down. It's the part of playing the quarterback position that Lawrence called "underrated" ahead of the team's game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Lawrence's decision-making prowess has shown in multiple areas of his game. After totaling 60 turnovers over his first three seasons, he's cut down on mistakes significantly. There may be a boneheaded throw from time to time, but Lawrence has shown the ability to live another down more often than not.
Through three games,
Lawrence has had five throwaways. In 2025, by comparison, the sixth-year QB had 14 throwaways through all 17 regular-season games, according to Pro Football Reference. Lawrence's bad-throw rate has also decreased.
Though only through three games, Lawrence has a "bad-throw rate" of 10.5% this season, down from 14.4% in 2025.
"That's a huge part of playing, very underrated part of playing quarterback and something that you constantly have to remind yourself to do and to not try to do too much and to not get greedy and not try to make a play every single play," Lawrence said ahead of the team's game against Cincinnati.
"Defenses are good. They're going to have guys covered up and there might not be a play every time and the best play is throwing it away and giving yourself another chance."
Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski makes a point of showcasing the throws that don't show up on the highlight reel.
How Jaguars use throwaway examples to improve in QB room
Lawrence explained that his growth in the live-another-down area didn't happen by chance. Udinski shows good and bad examples of quarterbacks around the league, or of the QBs in the room, making good and bad decisions with the football when it's time to live another down.
"Showing a play where it's just a throwaway on second-and-10 or first-and-10 and then you see them score on that series and then the game ends and it's a two or three-point game. And then he shows an example of someone turning the ball over and they end up losing by three points and they were already in field goal range, whatever," Lawrence said.
Lawrence credits preparation for a lot of his success in throwing with anticipation and playing faster. Playing fast doesn't necessarily mean trying to create more; that's not it. Rather, it can mean getting to a throwaway faster. Touchdown passes to Jakobi Meyers and Josh Cameron in the Patriots game show Lawrence throwing with anticipation.
"Those plays happen because of the trust and the reps that you get out here and the timing that you've built with the guys over training camp, over the season. All those reps that you get, you build the trust because in games, you just don't have time to wait. Guys got to be in the right spot at the right time, and I got to trust them to be there," Lawrence said.
Trevor Lawrence standing and delivering on 3rd down with a blitzer coming down the pipe.
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 29, 2026
Zero fat on his dropback, ball is out right as Meyers is entering his break. Beats the blitz and the coverage has no chance to recover. pic.twitter.com/wwePEAqIsK
All of that factored into Lawrence's improved decision-making over the years.
"There are certain things throughout the course of a game that might not get the praise of the touchdown, but are just as important to creating the opportunity for the touchdown as the touchdown itself," Udinski explained.
Udinski says much of what he needs to show his QBs comes from the offseason. Udinski used an example of Lawrence throwing the ball away on one play and a touchdown on the very next one.
"Well, that touchdown's only possible because he made the smart decision to throw the ball away, and we stayed in a positive situation, we stayed on track, and we can call the next play," said Udinski.
Quarterbacks especially are often stressed to make every play, and Lawrence is embracing the live-another-down mentality. Finding that balance has helped Lawrence grow over the last couple of years since Udinski and head coach Liam Coen began manning the offense.
"I think his understanding of the game from a big-picture standpoint has helped [Lawrence] understand when I'm making those riskier decisions and when I'm not. So, I think that's a lot of how he's become more successful taking care of the ball," Udinski explained, adding that Lawrence's growth in his knowledge of the game, schemes, and a given defense has helped, too.
"Trusting himself on third down has really been the big difference," Udinski added.
Lawrence and the Jaguars will get their next opportunity to take care of the football on the road Sunday against the Bengals.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @Demetrius82 or on BlueskyatDemetrius.
If you're a subscriber, thank you. If not, please consider subscribing to support local journalism in Northeast Florida.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Trevor Lawrence explains why the ‘boring’ plays matter for Jaguars
