The Jacksonville Jaguars’ new era under Urban Meyer is off to a rough start, but No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence certainly looks the part of a franchise quarterback in Week 1 versus the Houston Texans.
After taking a roughing-the passer-penalty a couple of plays earlier, Lawrence rifled the ball to Jaguars tight end Chris Manhertz for a 22-yard touchdown:
Most encouraging about this entire development is that Lawrence didn’t panic when Jacksonville was struggling early, trailing by multiple scores to a Texans team many believe has the worst roster in the NFL.
That Lawrence also protected Manhertz by hitting him on the back shoulder to avoid a more punishing hit from Houston’s secondary is a great sign, too.
It’s looking like it might be a long year of football for the Jaguars. Meyer has seemed in over his head in trying to transition from an all-time great college coach to the NFL, which is a struggle several who’ve followed that path before can relate to.
In any event, as long as Lawrence is at QB, Jacksonville can have hope for the future, even if it takes another season or two for the franchise to be truly competitive in the AFC.
More must-reads: