Trevor Lawrence helped lead the Jacksonville Jaguars to an important victory on Sunday, with the former Clemson star throwing for a season-high 364 yards as the Jags beat the division rival Houston Texans, 24-21.

During NBC’s Football Night in America show, analysts Chris Simms and Devin McCourty weighed in on Lawrence’s strong performance in what was a big game for his team in the AFC South race. The win gave Jacksonville (8-3) a two-game lead over the Texans (6-5) and Indianapolis Colts (6-5) with six regular season games left.

“The thing that jumped out to me more than anything about Jacksonville is they’ve got a good system. But it felt like (Sunday vs. Houston), they were like, we’re not looking to throw it 5 and 6 yards – we’re going to attack a little bit, back this Texans defense off, and he made a number of big throws down the field,” said Simms, the former Texas quarterback whose NFL career included stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos from 2003-2010.

“Moves well, can make plays off schedule,” Simms added of Lawrence, “and they’re patient with (Travis) Etienne and the run, which they should be. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a really good team. We know Houston is too. I was amazed with what (C.J.) Stroud did again. It’s unreal. But good job by Jacksonville.”

Against the Texans, Lawrence completed 23 of his 38 passes with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. His 364 passing yards are the second most in a single game in his career and the most in a single game against the Texans in franchise history.

Seven different Jaguars caught a pass from Lawrence, and five of those receivers had at least three catches.

“What I love about Lawrence is he wants everybody to go out there and have big games,” said McCourty, the three-time Super Bowl champion and three-time All-Pro who spent his entire 13-year NFL career as a defensive back for the New England Patriots.

“He spreads the ball around – Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley, (Evan) Engram, and he finds all of these guys over and over again. And when you do that, for a defense, it puts so much pressure because you can’t game plan to stop one guy when you’re going against a good quarterback that knows how to spread the ball around.”

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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