They say numbers never lie. But they might not tell the whole story.
This is especially true when it comes to Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s start to the season.
Lawrence has passed for 671 yards in three games with four passing touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s completed 55 percent of his passes (63-for-113).
It’s average quarterback play at best, and largely underwhelming statistically at best.
Numbers don’t have context, though. Of those four interceptions, only one is truly on Lawrence’s poor decision-making.
The first interception of the year came on an athletic play by Jaycee Horn. An argument can be made the pass was underthrown.
A counter-point could be made that there are a handful of cornerbacks who could make a spinning one-handed interception after being disciplined enough to not bite on an underneath route.
The second and third picks can be attributed to teammates letting him down. Walker Little was beaten by Trey Hendrickson off the line and forced an errant pass to the end zone.
Wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. short-armed a catch that flew into the arms of a waiting defender.
The last interception came from the result of Lawrence doing too much, trying to erase mistakes by teammates who dropped consecutive passes earlier in the series.
It’s the type of mistake he must clean up and has made throughout his five-year career in the league. Still, Lawrence feels like he’s in a good place through the first three weeks of the season.
“I’ve had one or two a game that are hurting us as far as turnovers go, so I got to find a way to eliminate those,” Lawrence said during his weekly media availability. “I think it’s just continuing to play smart ball and, obviously, I’m going to take the shots when they’re there, but not trying to force anything and just continuing to trust the system and to progress.”
Trevor Lawrence is preparing to face tough Niners defense
Lawrence is 0-2 in his career against the 49ers with a 34-3 loss in the most recent meeting in 2023.
It was one of the worst performances of his career, logging 17 of 29 passes for 185 yards with two interceptions. He was sacked five times in the loss as San Francisco dominated the Jaguars.
Now, Lawrence will get the chance at redemption as they go to the west coast.
“They’re a pretty simple scheme,” Lawrence said. “They’re not trying to really trick anyone, but they’ve always had a good defense and this scheme has always been really good and tough to play against because they’re so consistent and they’re really disciplined.”
The Niners are allowing an average of 16.3 points per game to opponents. They allow 265.7 total yards per game with 162 yards per game through the air — fifth-best in the league.
They suffered a blow to their defense with Nick Bosa tearing his ACL but still boast a talented squad headlined by Fred Warner. Warner leads the team in tackles, pass deflections and fumble recoveries. Mitigating him will be a task that’ll likely influence the result of the game.
“They play most things top down, they fly around sideline to sideline, as far as just the D-line and the linebackers,” Lawrence said. “They make a lot of plays with that front group there. And then on the back end, I think they’re really disciplined. They’re really smart, so it’s just that you will have some opportunities down the field, but it’s really taking that profit every time and being able to check the ball down.”
The Jaguars will face the 49ers on Sept. 28 at 4:05 p.m. at Levi Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence stats don’t lie, but they don’t paint full picture
Reporting by Juston Lewis, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
