The Florida Times-Union

Lawrence’s red zone woes aren’t unique

OC Taylor unbothered by quarterbac­k’s mistakes

It’s impossible to conclude after just two days of training camp. Still, Jacksonvil­le Jaguars observers are a bit antsy after a poor performanc­e by franchise quarterbac­k Trevor Lawrence and the team’s offense on the second day of camp.

Those qualms and concerns aren’t shared with the coaching staff, and some context is always needed. The Jaguars ran a series of red zone drills Thursday, giving players a bit of a breather in terms of the volume of snaps, offensive coordinato­r Press Taylor explained Friday.

The team typically starts installing with first and second-down drills, followed by third-down and red zone the following days, the last of a week of play installati­on.

Instead, they went with the red zone early on the first two days of training camp and it didn’t look pretty. That’s especially true for Lawrence, who struggled at times, throwing three intercepti­ons in two days. Lawrence was 3 for 7 in 11-on-11 periods and 5 for 8 in 7 on 7 on Thursday’s session.

Through two days Lawrence was 15 of 26 in team periods (57.7% completion percentage). In all, Jaguars quarterbac­ks completed 58.8% of their passes through two days of red-zone drills with 5 total intercepti­ons, three from Lawrence.

Lawrence bounced back Friday, completing 11 of 15 passes in team periods with zero intercepti­ons.

Though he wants the team’s offense to improve in the red zone, Taylor had a solid explanatio­n as to why things might not look as clean and why the team ran red zone this early in camp, to begin with.

“It’s more for the players and I think they appreciate that. With that said, space is restricted, things happen very fast,” said Taylor.

“The install is very small. I think yesterday we probably had 26 reps in the red zone passes. We had six installs, six plays. So, we’re cycling through and we’ll tell [Jaguars defensive coordinato­r] Ryan [Nielsen], ‘Hey, plays five, 10, 15, they’re all the same play.’ He’ll just mix coverages for us so we can build our tapes. They’re doing the same thing.”

The offensive plays are scripted and the defense, typically, knows what’s coming.

Of course, the offense ought to still be able to have success, but they face an uphill battle during the early portion of training camp, especially with a condensed field during the early days of installing plays.

Taylor categorize­s Lawrence’s INTs as ‘learning opportunit­ies’

While overreacti­ons are typical in the first week of NFL training camps, Lawrence was pined extensivel­y for good reason on Thursday. With two intercepti­ons in the red zone, the thought was, understand­ably: this again? Since entering the NFL in 2021, Lawrence has led all quarterbac­ks in turnovers with 60, including an NFL-high 21 in 2023 (14 intercepti­ons, seven lost fumbles). Thursday’s practice session was a reminder of that, and Lawrence’s

frustratio­n was obvious.

Lawrence and the Jaguars’ coaching staff have emphasized him cutting down the turnovers, and Taylor reiterated that on Friday.

“Obviously ball security is up there for us,” Taylor said when asked what Lawrence could work on during camp, adding that having ownership of the offense, of communicat­ing with the coaching staff and players is also something he’s worked on. A lot of times he does something, and I’ll say, ‘Why’d you do that?’ and I just want to hear his answer. Then, if we like the answer, ‘Okay, great, let’s talk about that a little more,’” Taylor explained. “If we don’t, we need to either pull the reigns back on something, we need to re-teach something, we need to re-evaluate the way we do a certain thing. But you just want to see the ownership.”

That was put on display Thursday, particular­ly with Lawrence’s second intercepti­on to safety Andrew Wingard. The first intercepti­on was late and to the left with Wingard making a good play on

the ball, the second pick was a bit more nuanced.

“He thought there was going to be a pressure, he pulls up on a naked, which is not something we typically do. But he thought he saw something, he didn’t. As we go, we watch the film, immediatel­y he knows,” Taylor described.

“Really, he came off the field right then, ‘I was clean, wasn’t I?’ ‘Yeah, you were clean.’ Continue to attack the edge, the play expresses itself completely differentl­y. They’re learning opportunit­ies.”

Lawrence’s ownership and understand­ing of the Jaguars’ offense have improved, and though he threw two intercepti­ons, Taylor isn’t in panic mode.

“Do I think we would’ve thrown that in a game? Probably not. For the most part, he’s been a good decision-maker when it comes to throwing the ball in harm’s way as it goes but that’s something that I’d rather happen today than in September,” said Taylor.

Lawrence’s intercepti­ons aren’t typically of the “What are you doing?” variety,

but he has made some costly mistakes in the red zone, throwing four red-zone intercepti­ons the last two seasons, one in 2023. During camp, this is the time for players to get a better feel of things and coaches to understand the players they’ll have to work with. For Lawrence, it’s an opportunit­y to see various looks and continue communicat­ing with the team’s staff so they’re all on the same page.

“So those are the things we’ll continue to encourage him to take his opportunit­ies, to push the ball in certain situations, especially in practice. But again, just communicat­e with us,” said Taylor.

“Why’d you do that? What made you pull up on a movement play to begin with? Why’d you end up throwing that ball there? Did you like the way you threw the ball? All those certain things is just getting the right feedback as we go.”

Ultimately, training camp is the time to practice situations, including for the team’s quarterbac­k. While a perfect day is ideal, it shouldn’t be expected and this week was a good example.