Gene Frenette: Trevor shows toughness, rewarded with glory of finally winning in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — The only two previous times Trevor Lawrence exited the Caesars Superdome, it wasn’t a good feeling as his Clemson Tigers were eliminated from the College Football Playoff in decisive fashion by LSU and Ohio State.

It was one of myriad reasons the Jacksonville Jaguars' quarterback, despite the discomfort of playing on a sprained left knee, felt compelled to settle a score Thursday night on the Bayou.

“I thought about it,” said Lawrence. “I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth every time I’ve left New Orleans.”

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What Lawrence did against the New Orleans Saints was play through some pain and refuse to lose. Just when it looked like the Jaguars were on the verge of throwing the game away, No. 16 exorcised his Superdome demon.

It’s what had to be done, especially if Lawrence is going to ascend into an elite NFL quarterback many believe he will eventually become.

With 3:19 remaining in a tied game, which the Jaguars once led by 15 points, Lawrence and receiver Christian Kirk hooked up on a 44-yard, catch-and-run touchdown play to deliver a 31-24 victory over the Saints.

“I thought it was going to be, maybe a 10-yard gain,” said Lawrence. “I knew he had 20 on the angle, but then he took off and took it to the house.”

It was nothing out of the ordinary, only a two-yard pass over the middle.

But the timing of the play — with Lawrence putting that ball in a perfect spot where Kirk could turn on the jets and sprint to the end zone — is another piece of evidence that Trevor might be evolving into one of those quarterbacks who consistently rises to the occasion.

“That’s what great players do, he’s turning into one of the greats,” said Engram. “Everything on the line, not 100 percent, a freaking knee injury on a short week, a lot of adversity in the game. Things weren’t going our way and he made the play.”

It’d be more accurate to say Kirk made that play, seeing as how he got just enough separation from safety Tyrann Mathieu to jump-start the whole process. Kirk then ran across the field, away from linebacker Pete Werner, then stiff-armed Jordan Howden at the 6 before finding the end zone.

“I don’t think I’ve run that fast since college [at Texas A&M],” said Kirk. “That was some vintage stuff.”

Run Trevor, run

Kirk’s legwork aside, what made the Jaguars’ fourth consecutive win memorable was how Lawrence managed to grind it out on an impaired knee and come up big after his team saw a 24-9 lead evaporate.

“He’s our guy, he’s our captain, he’s our leader,” said offensive tackle Cam Robinson. “Where he goes, we follow.”

On Monday, head coach Doug Pederson acknowledged he had doubts whether Lawrence’s knee — hurt on a sack taken in the final minutes of a 37-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts — could heal enough to play 72 hours later.

Well, not only did Lawrence play with the pain, he rushed for a career-high 59 yards and looked more like a sprinter than a gimpy racehorse doing it.

“Golly, it’s crazy how you have something like that [knee] going on and you do not plan on moving a lot and you end up running the ball more than I usually do,” Lawrence said.

He scrambled for runs of 22, 9 and 26 yards, with two of them igniting touchdown drives. Lawrence took advantage of the Saints’ man-to-man coverage, leaving plenty of open space for him to be the Jaguars’ leading rusher.

“On Monday, I would have told you he was not playing in this football game, but that’s not who Trevor is,” said Pederson. “I’m proud of his ability to escape the pocket and run. Fortunately, they were straight-ahead runs. He didn’t have to cut too much. A lot of gutsy performances out there, and his is probably the No. 1.”

In a game where the Jaguars had three starters sidelined and lost safety Andre Cisco late in the third quarter, their replacements held up just fine.

None was more impressive than second-year cornerback Montaric Brown, who played only one defensive snap in the team’s first five games before Campbell went down early in last week’s game. That forced Brown into action for 54 snaps.

In his second NFL start, Brown broke up two passes in the end zone, the biggest on fourth-and-goal when the Saints were a completion away from tying the game in the final 30 seconds.

“One of the big messages this week was fill in that spot for the next guy, pretty much pick your brother up,” Engram said. “Guys are banged up, guys are hurt, so we’re going to need to lean on each other all week. That’s how we won the game tonight.”

Jaguars’ depth flourishes

This has become a staple of the Pederson culture. The next-man-up mentality isn’t a slogan, but an expectation of seeing minimal difference in performance when a backup player replaces a starter.

It’s not just Brown stepping up for Campbell, but counting on left guard Tyler Shatley to adequately replace Walker Little and receiver Jamal Agnew (4 catches, 36 yards) to pick up the slack in Zay Jones’ absence.

The Jaguars certainly don’t want to be seeing too many replacements becoming consistent starters, but it’s good to know they have sufficient depth to withstand some attrition.

Fortunately, and this is nothing against C.J. Beathard, the Jaguars weren’t forced to play a backup quarterback who hadn’t started a game in almost three years.

Even with Lawrence at less than 100 percent, he was barely touched because the Jaguars’ offensive line had its best game of the year from a pass-protection standpoint.

By no means was Lawrence special, but there was little drop-off from the 24-year-old QB. Despite concerns about whether his knee could absorb any quick moves or punishment, he completed 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards (100.4 rating) and had only one dangerous throw that just missed getting intercepted.

“It just again shows the type of person he is and the unselfishness he has,” Pederson said of Lawrence. “I saw it last year when he got injured [toe] in the Detroit game, and he battled injury throughout the rest of the year and gutted that out. This is different. This is a short week.”

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Minimizing offensive lulls

Some warts had to be covered up, mostly by a stingy defense that held the Saints to three field goals until back-to-back TD drives in the fourth quarter made things a little too interesting.

The Jaguars’ offense was stagnant for too many parts of the game, converting just 2 of 11 third down chances. It contributed to letting that big lead slip away by coming up empty on three consecutive second-half possessions.

These periodic slumps have become an issue in recent games, but the good news is the Jaguars can try to make the necessary corrections after another win.

“I know this is going to be a point of emphasis for us to not find ourselves in these situations,” Kirk said. “Especially when we had a lead like we did. When you get into a lull like that, you give good teams an opportunity to come back, so that stuff will get us beat ultimately.

“But I’m just glad we were able to make a play when it mattered.”

Looking at how the Jaguars have won these last four games, with the NFL’s leading takeaway defense mostly overcoming the offense’s inconsistency, it’s a potentially good sign for the remainder of the season.

Imagine how much better the Jaguars (5-2) will be when the offense finds a groove and sustains it for longer periods. With better health and the offensive line staying together long enough to be a force in the run game, maybe the Jaguars won’t have to keep winning clunky games.

Not that that’s a bad thing. Remember, this isn’t college. There are no style points in the NFL or a committee to decide who goes to the playoffs. Just win, make corrections and move on to the next.

For so many years, the Jaguars didn’t have a good enough quarterback or enough playmakers to deliver the kind of quick-strike TD that made the Lawrence-to-Kirk connection a cause for celebration.

Week by week, highlight throw by highlight throw, the Jaguars are savoring the luxury of having a franchise quarterback who’s only going to get better.

“Seeing Trevor really grow into that elite talent that he is, seeing him make the big plays at the biggest moment when it counts, it doesn’t surprise me,” Engram said. “But it’s real cool to see.”

For Lawrence, a return trip to the Superdome and on a gimpy knee at that, New Orleans never looked better.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540  

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Guts and glory -- Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence comes up big in the Big Easy