The Denver Broncos will need to rediscover their pass rush if they're going to beat Trevor Lawrence and the Jags.
The Denver Broncos will face a very new challenge this week, but it’s one they’ve seen before. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Broncos at home last year to end Denver’s 11-game winning streak, but it was a very different “slap in the face” than the one the Broncos just endured on Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.
That game was all about Lawence, and the Broncos found out what he can do when he gets hot. He went 23-for-36 in that game for 279 yards, and he had three touchdown passes, with a rushing touchdown thrown in for good measure.
Lawrence is hot again, and that’s a September exception for the Jags quarterback, according to Michael DiRocco of ESPN, who noted that the quarterback has won only 33 percent of games and completed just 60 percent of his passes in that month. His quarterback rating of 47 for September was the lowest of any month in his career.
This year, though, Lawrence isn’t waiting for the weather to cool down to heat up. He toasted the Cleveland Browns last week to the tune of 18-for-23 for 245 yards with four touchdown passes and no interceptions, which earned him a spectacular QB rating of 150.6.
These weren’t short throws, either. Per DiRocco, he completed 10 of 11 attempts for 179 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
It’s easy to say it’s only the Cleveland Browns, but the Broncos saw something similar during their 34-20 loss last year. Lawrence started slowly, but after failing to score on their first two possessions, the Jags ripped off scores on six of seven possessions, with Lawrence torching them on third down and in the red zone.
Coach Liam Coen cited excellent protection, spreading the ball around and mixing in the run game as the keys to the route over Cleveland.
Another common thread in those two games was receiver Parker Washington, who had a big day against Denver last year with six catches for 145 yards and a touchdown. Washington had a solid line of five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown in last Sunday’s win.
The question Broncos fans will be asking is “will our pass rush show up against Jacksonville?” That’s a different question from last week’s question against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was “can we stop running back Kenneth Walker III?", but slowing down Lawrence will be just as important this week, if not more so.
