- Further terrible news for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have now lost four straight games, is that quarterback Trevor Lawrence damaged his AC joint in his throwing shoulder during Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In his Tuesday media conference, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson revealed that Lawrence’s availability for this week’s game against the Carolina Panthers is uncertain and that he might not practice on Wednesday.
With two weeks left in the season, the Jaguars, who are currently atop the AFC South, are fighting for their postseason life, so the news couldn’t come at a worse time.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence may be losing ground on making the playoffs.
The Jaguars were 8-3 and firmly in control of the AFC South a month ago.
However, Lawrence hurt his ankle during Jacksonville’s Week 13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Once the Jags lost to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15, he was put into concussion protocol.
Despite not missing a game in this injury-prone span, the 2021 No. 1 overall pick has performed rather poorly in the last three weeks. Although Lawrence has completed five passes for touchdowns, he has also thrown five interceptions, fumbled four times, lost three of those attempts.
A month ago, the Jaguars were 8-3 and comfortably leading the AFC South.
But during Jacksonville’s Week 13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Lawrence suffered an ankle injury. Following the Jaguars’ Week 15 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, he was placed into concussion protocol.
The 2021 No. 1 overall pick hasn’t missed a game in this injury-prone stretch, but his performance over the past three weeks has been lackluster. Despite having five touchdown passes completed, Lawrence has also thrown five interceptions, fumbled four times, and failed three of those tries.
As insurance, Jacksonville also signed Matt Barkley to the active roster from the New York Giants practice squad. Barkley hasn’t appeared in an NFL regular-season game since 2020.
The Jaguars currently hold tiebreakers over the other two teams vying for the division, the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, and their two remaining opponents, the Panthers and the Tennessee Titans, are last-place teams. So that’s a nice advantage to have.
Still, the Jaguars have to go out and win games and that isn’t something they’ve been able to do over the last month. And that only becomes more difficult if Lawrence is unable to go or is limited if he does suit up.
