From four interceptions in the first half to three touchdown passes in the second, former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence helped orchestrate the third-largest comeback in NFL playoff history Saturday night.
The Jacksonville Jaguars overcame a 27-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 to give Lawrence and teammate and former Clemson University star running back Travis Etienne their first career wins. Playoff wins.
“You couldn’t have written a better script to win a game like tonight, so that made it even more special, but don’t want to do it again,” Lawrence said after the game.
The second-year QB finished with one of the craziest statistics you’ll ever see: 28 of 47 passes for 288 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.
When he single-handedly gave his opponent a huge lead, he called the first half “absolutely the worst half of my football career, and a lot of people’s football career.”
Lawrence, who started the game on 4-of-16 passes, had interceptions for the Jaguars on his first two plays of the game, another late in the first quarter and his fourth to start the second. The game was over after the Chargers took a 27-0 lead and scored a goal with 4:28 left in the half.
Not so fast.
“The guys around me and the guys on the other side of the ball never lost faith in me,” Lawrence said. “When you have someone who believes in you no matter the situation, that’s one of the things that makes it easier.”
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Lawrence was able to lead the TD offense ahead of the crucial first half. He found Evan Engram in the end zone on a 9-yard scoring play and brought some life to the Jags. Then they came out in the second half, stopped on the defensive end, went on to go on 14 plays, 89 yards of offense, and ended with a 6-yard TD pass by Lawrence to Marvin Jones.
After the Chargers responded with a field goal, their only score of the second half, Lawrence found Zay Jones for a 39-yard score. The two-point conversion failed, but the lead was cut to 30-20 going into the fourth quarter.
That’s when Lawrence made one of his best throws of the night, finding an open Marvin Jones in the end zone for a 9-yard TD pass. After the Chargers assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty against Joey Bosa and the ball was moved to the 1-yard line, Jaguars head coach Doug Pedersen opted to have Lawrence over the top for a 2-point conversion, cutting the lead to two points.
Jacksonville’s defense stalled again, as Lawrence led the field for 61 yards and set himself up for a game-winning field goal at the end of the clock. It was set up by Etienne’s 25-yard run on fourth-and-1.
“It’s cool what you can achieve when you believe and everyone believes,” Lawrence said. “Tonight was one of those games.”
Lawrence has been playing the big game all his life. At Clemson, he led the Tigers to the 2018 national championship as a freshman and played in the College Football Playoff in each of the three years on campus.
He has a pretty big winning card, and now he has another NFL playoff win.
“It’s up there,” Lawrence said. “It’s a special time. It’s definitely one I’ll never forget. There’s something about this team, the way we’ve been able to come together.”
The Jaguars are +2,500 at FanDuel sportsbooks to win the Super Bowl, advance to the divisional round and, based on Sunday’s results, could play top-seeded AFC Kansas City.
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