The Jaguars’ historic 27-point comeback against the Chargers in Saturday’s wild-card round matchup had no shortage of jaw-dropping moments. Perhaps the signature moment from the charge was when quarterback Trevor Lawrence used every bit of his 6’6” frame to stretch the ball across the goal line for a two-point conversion, which narrowed the Chargers’ lead to 30-28 with under six minutes to play.
As Lawrence recalls, though, the play was not what was originally designed.
The second-year quarterback told reporters on Tuesday that he changed the call at the line of scrimmage after seeing how the defense was lined up.
“That’s a play where I just saw the opportunity and figured that’d be a lot easier,” Lawrence said. “I didn’t feel like there was any risk in that. I knew I could get it in, so I just took it.”
As for how head coach Doug Pederson reacted on the sideline, Lawrence said he couldn’t actually recall any specific words he said—just pure emotion.
“He was pumped,” Lawrence said with a laugh. “If you make the play, you’re good. That’s one thing, it’s kind of a no-no. But you’ve got to make the play and make sure. There’s certain looks where you’ve got to be careful down by the goal line.”
Lawrence pointed to a similar play in Sunday night’s Bengals-Ravens game, in which Baltimore quarterback Tyler Huntley tried the same move Lawrence did but had the ball knocked out of his hands and returned for what amounted to the game-winning touchdown for Cincinnati.
“Obviously the ball is the most important thing, but I felt confident in it,” Lawrence said. “When you’re out there playing and you feel something, the coaching staff is trusting me to make plays, and I’m accountable for all that.”
The Jaguars will face the Chiefs in the divisional round on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET in Kansas City.
