The Jacksonville Jaguars had a tendency during the 2022 season to fall behind early in games and climb back into contention late. While it served the team well at times, starting games on the right foot in 2023 has been a goal for coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
So an interception on Lawrence’s second throw of preseason didn’t sit well with anyone on the Jaguars sideline.
“The other night is not starting fast. You don’t throw an interception on the second play of the game,” Pederson told reporters Monday morning. “For us, it’s just a matter of continuing to work at it.
“We’re just continuing to work on it, we weren’t very good a year ago with some of our opening possessions, whether they ended up in a punt or turnover, you just can’t have that.”
Lawrence, 23, completed every other pass he threw on the night, finishing Saturday with five completions on six attempts for 36 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m still a little frustrated from having a turnover early,” Lawrence told reporters Saturday evening after the game. “We’ve got to start faster. We can’t turn the ball over and put our defense it that situation. It was just a bad throw by me.”
Lawrence was rolling to his left when he attempted to throw deep to tight end Evan Engram. Instead, he left the ball a little short and it ended up in the arms of the Dallas Cowboys’ Juanyeh Thomas.
Trevor forcing it and throws a pick pic.twitter.com/5pVpVp1na6
— Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) August 12, 2023
“It had nothing to do with the routes,” Pederson explained Monday. “It’s just the fact that the ball slipped out of his hand, if you look at it closely, I think it’s wobbling down the field. It just slipped out of Trevor’s hand, he didn’t get enough on it. If he wanted to throw it the way he hoped he did, it would’ve been a little deeper to Evan going in behind the secondary.”
Lawrence finished the 2022 season with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Just eight of his touchdown passes came when the Jaguars were leading or tied, and 17 happened while Jacksonville was trailing.
