Through two weeks, Trevor Lawrence ranks #22 in air yards per attempt, #32 in percentage of passes thrown at or behind the line of scrimmage, and #26 in rate of passes thrown 20+ yards downfield.
Just under 50% of his passes have been thrown within five yards of the line of scrimmage, one of the highest rates of short passes in the NFL.
This is exactly what Liam Coen was brought to Jacksonville to do: make life easier (and hopefully better) for Lawrence.
And yet, he has completed less than 59% of his passes, #27 in the NFL.
Adjusting for the short target depth, Lawrence ranks #32 in the NFL in completion percentage over expectation.
The bad news for the Jaguars but good news for Lawrence is that it’s not Lawrence’s inaccuracy that is causing the majority of the problems.
The problems have been the receiver error.
Through two games, 33% of Lawrence’s incompletions have been the result of receiver error.
A whopping 11% of all Lawrence’s pass attempts are being dropped by his receivers, the #1 highest of any QB.
It’s even worse in the red zone.
Over 21% of all Lawrence's passes have been dropped.
But here’s the thing: even if you remove all drops from all QBs last week, Lawrence wasn’t great.
And he’s doing it while being well protected.
His 21% pressure rate was the #7 lowest of any QB last week.
There should have been no excuse for the Jaguars to lose against the Bengals.
The Jaguars were up 14-7 when Joe Burrow was injured.
Jake Browning entered and threw THREE interceptions
…and the Jaguars still lost the game.
The last four drives of the Jaguars went: FG, punt, turnover on downs, end of game.
They made it to the Bengals' seven-yard line in the fourth quarter twice but wound up with 3 total points.
The Jaguars don’t have much time to figure things out moving forward.
They have the undefeated Colts plus the Texans in their division.
Lawrence must play better, the receivers must catch the ball, and Coen must figure out a way to blend things better offensively.
But more than anything, this is the toughest stretch of the season.
The next three games for the Jaguars are the Texans, 49ers, and Chiefs.