The bye week has come for the Jacksonville Jaguars at a perfect time. The team is sitting at 4-2 after a tight contest against the Houston Texans in London that slipped away late.
Despite the loss, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen has confidence in his team and was proud of the way they competed against Houston.
“I never really felt like we were just static or couldn't move it,” he told reporters via zoom on Oct. 19. “They should take confidence from some of those things [against Houston]."
One of the things Coen was most impressed with was quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s play as he battled against a feisty defense to keep Jacksonville in the game. Lawrence completed 24 of his 41 pass attempts
for 306 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.
It was another strong performance in a season littered with them for the sixth-year quarterback.
“Six games in,” Coen continued. “I've been very pleased with Trevor Lawrence.”
Trevor Lawrence is off to strong start through first six games for the Jaguars
Lawrence has led the Jaguars to four wins this season as he’s playing some of the best football of his career. All of the momentum he built during Jacksonville’s post-season run last season has carried over into this season.
He has thrown a league-best 14 touchdown passes while completing 64.6 percent of his throws. His 1,480 yards this season are 10th best in the NFL while his four interceptions are tied for third-least in the league.
Putting it simply, Lawrence’s command of the offense has been impressive. He’s mastered a complex system that marries the passing game with the rushing attack.
Lawrence has autonomy of what play is ran at the line of scrimmage since Jacksonville uses a “can” system. Two plays go in during the call and Lawrence has the power to audible out of one depending on the look that the defense presents prior to the snap.
“Trevor gives me so much confidence on a weekly basis as a play caller and the way that I think he's seeing it right now and playing,” he said.
That’s the ultimate vote of confidence as Jacksonville’s offense enters the back half of its schedule.
Playing with Trevor Lawrence described as a ‘blessing’ by first-year teammate
The Jaguars brought in veteran running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. this offseason because of his familiarity with Coen and the system. Coen was Rodriguez’s offensive coordinator at Kentucky and has a longstanding relationship with the second-year head coach.
When asked about Lawrence, Rodriguez had positive things to say.
“Having him as a quarterback, it's honestly a blessing,” he said. “Not too often you have a quarterback who, I mean, the whole team is basically riding on his back, and he's just locked in, laser-focused the whole time.”
Dialed in and laser focused is a good way to describe Lawrence’s play this season. He started the season with a four-touchdown performance in a blowout win against the Browns. He had a down performance against the Broncos but shook it off with a three-touchdown game against the Patriots the following week.
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Lawrence helped the Jaguars win gritty games against the Bengals and Eagles in consecutive weeks. He threw a laser to Parker Washington late in the game against the Eagles that helped the Jaguars take the lead, a throw that Coen gave praise for it being in a perfect place for Washington to catch.
Against the Texans, Lawrence battled it out with CJ Stroud in a battle between the top two quarterbacks in the AFC South. He went band for band with Stroud, keeping the Jaguars in the game as Jacksonville’s defense had an uncharacteristically bad outing.
As the team returns from the bye week, Lawrence can continue to build on his hot start. If he does, the Jaguars will be in every game and the play of the entire team will be raised.
“Having a guy like that where he's on his stuff all the time, every game, every practice, every walkthrough,” Rodriguez said. “It makes it easy to go out there and play at your fullest, because you see him giving it all he's got.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Why Liam Coen is 'very pleased' with Trevor Lawrence's play this season
