Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s status for this week’s game against the Panthers remains up in the air on Tuesday.
Head coach Doug Pederson said that Lawrence has been diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder after being injured in Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers. Pederson said that Lawrence is “doing better today than he did yesterday,” but that he doesn’t expect Lawrence to practice on Wednesday.
“It’s a little bit early,” Pederson said, via the team’s website. “He may do a little something tomorrow, but I would doubt that. It’s a little bit too soon, but we’ll see as the day, as the week, goes on.”
It’s the third straight week that Lawrence is dealing with an injury as he suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 14 and a concussion in Week 15.
“He has been fortunate enough to bounce back from all of them,” Lawrence said. “We’ll see as he goes this week where he’s at. We’ve been fortunate that he has been able to be available every week so far.”
The Jaguars, Colts and Texans all have 8-7 records, but the Jaguars will win the AFC South if they win both of their remaining games and having Lawrence at his best would be good reason to feel confident about their chances of doing that. The repeated injuries and their concurrent four-game losing streak aren’t doing much to inspire that kind of confidence, so they’ll be hoping for some good news in the coming days in Jacksonville.
This December has looked a lot different for Baker Mayfield than last December.
Mayfield was released by the Panthers in early December 2022 and his prospects were uncertain after he played out the final weeks of the regular season with a Rams team that was going nowhere. Mayfield signed with the Buccaneers after Tom Brady retired and it looked like things might go a similar way when the Bucs came into the final month of 2023 with a 4-7 record, but the last four weeks have changed everything in Tampa.
Mayfield has thrown nine touchdowns during a four-game winning streak, including two in Sunday’s 30-12 rout of the Jaguars that put the team on the doorstep of a division title. They will be the NFC South champions with one win in the final two weeks and head coach Todd Bowles credited the quarterback with putting them in that position.
“He’s been outstanding,” Bowles said at his postgame press conference. “He’s been outstanding in December. That’s what you want from your quarterback in December. Everybody knows each other’s plays right about now. But when you’re trying to make a push and your quarterback is playing great, it gives you a chance.”
Mayfield’s play has opened the door to a longer stay in Tampa, but talks on that front aren’t likely to come until the Bucs are finished playing. The last month has given reason to believe that the end of their run might not come until well into January.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has had two head coaches in three NFL seasons. The first one, Urban Meyer, had no business being there. The second one, Doug Pederson, has won a Super Bowl.
Based on Lawrence’s comments after a blowout loss to the Buccaneers, Pederson’s future suddenly seems far shakier than it should.
“It just looks like we don’t even practice,” Lawrence told reporters, via ESPN.com. “We look lost. No sense of urgency. The list goes on and on. I feel like we have good weeks of preparation and I feel like we’re prepared going into games and then something happens on game day the last month where it just all falls apart.
“This is our season. We’ve worked hard to be in this position and we’re close to pissing it away so we’ve got to figure it out.”
Although Lawrence surely didn’t intend his comments to be an indictment of coaching, that’s what they kind of are. It’s the coach’s job to create the impression that the team has practiced. That the team doesn’t look lost. That the team has a sense of urgency. That things don’t fall apart on game day. That they don’t piss away a promising season.
The Jaguars still have two chances to turn it around, with a visit from the Panthers and a trip to the Titans. If they can turn it around and make the playoffs, fine. If they don’t, ownership might have some tough questions to ask regarding whether the team is reaching its potential, if not why not, and what can be done to get there.
The Broncos started 1-5. They willed their way back into the playoff chase. On Christmas Eve, at 7-7 and with 10 other AFC teams at 8-7 or better, the Broncos had a chance to keep pace.
They didn’t, losing 26-23 to the playing-for-nothing Patriots.
“We are not going to insert the ‘Jim Mora playoffs’ press conference,” Broncos coach Sean Payton told reporters after the game. “I told these guys I am disappointed. I am disappointed for them. I am sure they are too. Tomorrow, you have to spend time and enjoy Christmas with your families. Then we have to come back to work Wednesday, and we have to focus on winning a game. We had a home game today and an opportunity to keep going. We did not take advantage of it, but we have our next opportunity next week and we kind of go from there.”
The Broncos finish with a home game against the Chargers and a trip to Las Vegas to face the Raiders. The Broncos aren’t eliminated, but they need to win — and they need help.
“I haven’t done the math,” quarterback Russell Wilson told reporters. “I’m feeling this loss right now. We thought we should have won this game. I think the best thing we can do is get up tomorrow and be with our families, and this and that, and then get back to work. We have two games to go, and those games mean a lot just for who we are and our fight, and our testament of who we are and how we’re going to battle back.”
After winning six of seven, the Broncos have now lost two straight. They can finish 9-8. They can still get in.
But, frankly, the playoffs should be a place for the better teams playing their best. The Broncos failing to get it done at home against a team going nowhere doesn’t suggest that they’re truly ready to go to a place like Miami or Baltimore or Kansas City in the wild-card round and give the home team a run for its money.
Frankly, beyond the 10-5 Browns and 9-6 Bills, there’s no team in the AFC that seems like it’s ready to compete with the No. 2 seed. The Jaguars, Colts, and Texans all looked not too good on Sunday. The Bengals have seen the Jake Browning bubble burst. The Steelers’ Renegade formula likely won’t work on the road in the playoffs against a great team.
The various seven-loss or seven-win teams chasing the seventh seed will have a steep hill to climb to be anything more than sacrificial lambs. Still, getting to the playoffs is better than not getting to the playoffs. Even if the team that punches the last ticket to the AFC party is destined to have a very short stay.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence entered Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers with an ankle injury, and a concussion from which he had recovered. He exited the game with a shoulder injury.
He’ll have more tests on Monday to determine whether he’ll be available for next Sunday’s game against the Panthers.
“It’s bothering me,” Lawrence said after the 30-12 road loss to the Buccaneers, via ESPN.com. “Hopefully nothing major but, yeah, it’s bugging me right now.”
Lawrence injured the shoulder while diving for a first down on fourth and one, late in the third quarter. He remained in the game for the rest of the drive, before yielding to quarterback C.J. Beathard.
“When I landed I knew something was off,” Lawrence said. “And the next play it kind of hurts to throw. I wanted to finish the drive out and we were able to get some points, and then on the two-point [conversion attempt I] could tell by the way I threw it I couldn’t really get my shoulder up good enough to really keep playing.
“I would’ve loved to have stayed in but just kind of hurting everybody at that point if I do, so they made the call to just take a seat the rest of the night.”
Lawrence has never missed a start during his three-year NFL careers. In 2023, he returned the next week after a knee injury, an ankle inury, and most recently a concussion. With the Jaguars now losing four in a row, they need Lawrence if they hope to win the AFC South.
The only good news for Jacksonville is that both the Colts and the Texans lost on Sunday, preserving the three-way tie for the division lead at 8-7.
The Jaguars conclude their season with games at home against the Panthers and at Tennessee.
