Trevor Lawrence will never forget how he felt in the locker room following the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos in London back in late October.

The former Clemson quarterback threw two interceptions in that Week 8 game, including one at Denver’s 1-yard line that prevented the Jaguars from taking a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. His other interception came when the Jags were down by four points with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it essentially ended the game, which Lawrence finished 18-of-31 passing for 133 yards, one touchdown and the two picks.

It marked Jacksonville’s fifth straight loss at the time, dropping the team’s record to 2-6.

“I’ll never forget how I felt in that locker room after the game,” Lawrence said to the media on Wednesday. “Obviously, it wasn’t a good day for me, and I really just felt like – it felt like that a couple times, but none more than after that game – really felt like I let the team down. Should have won that game. That was our fifth one in a row.

“So, I’ll never forget how I felt in that locker room, because I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I’m gonna, one, start taking care of the ball, but two, I just want to be the player that I know I can be, and I think that kind of flipped a switch in me.”

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson spoke about that London game this week on The Rich Eisen Show, pointing to it – and particularly the aforementioned red-zone turnover at the goal line – as a wake-up call for Lawrence and a turning point in the 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick’s young career.

“I think and I believe that that interception he threw on the goal line at Denver when we played in London several weeks ago, I think was, you know, a little bit of a wake-up call or a bell that rung in his head that says ‘Listen, I’ve got to do a better job of protecting the football,'” Pederson said.

“You know, you’re hurting the football team and putting the team in harm’s way like that — I just think that was a play that one, he would like to have back, but I really think it put him on a trajectory or path that he’s on right now.”

Since those interceptions against the Broncos, Lawrence hasn’t thrown any more over the past five games. Instead, he’s been brilliant over that five-game span while completing 71.6 percent of his passes for 1,362 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Lawrence has completed 71 percent or more of his passes in four of those games, has a passer rating of 100 or more in four of those games, and is coming off a game against the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday during which he threw for a career-high 368 yards and scored a career-high four total touchdowns in the Jaguars’ 36-22 win.

Lawrence is starting to realize the potential that made him the first player taken in last year’s draft. And after struggling in his rookie campaign last season and at times over the course of this year, he hasn’t forgotten some of the haters who wrote him off.

“Honestly, too, I think I have a little bit more of a chip on my shoulder now,” a feisty Lawrence said. “Just because the last year and a half, I don’t really forget what’s been said and what people have written, and now you see people change their mind after a couple weeks. But I remember everything, and I don’t use that necessarily as my only fuel, but definitely use that. And I think that’s something this team’s done.”

Since that five-game losing streak, the Jaguars are 3-2 and have improved their record to 5-8 following the 2-6 start. Lawrence has led three comeback wins over the past five games.

“We kind of remember what people were saying when we lost five in a row, then we’ve won some big games now and people kind of change their mind quick,” Lawrence said. “So, we just have that same mentality that we want to prove how good we can be every week, and I think that’s been the cool thing about this team.”

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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