It was a bit of a bumpy ride in the preseason for Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the first two games. Lawrence failed to find the end zone in those first two games, but he got another shot in the Jaguars' preseason finale against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Lo and behold, Lawrence marched Jacksonville down the field on its opening drive and capped things off with an 18-yard strike to Pharoh Cooper for his first touchdown in the NFL. Even though it doesn't count, it still had to feel good for Lawrence:
This touchdown finished off a five-play, 68-yard march down the field. Trevor Lawrence went 3-for-3 on the drive for 62 yards. He followed that up with another touchdown pass to Laviska Shenault Jr. in the second quarter:
The hot start to Sunday's game comes days after Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer finally announced that Lawrence would be the starter. It was obviously a no-brainer, but Meyer had been playing it coy for a while before finally announcing the news.
Not long after that announcement, Jacksonville traded backup quarterback Gardner Minshew to the Philadelphia Eagles. It's Trevor Lawrence's time to shine for the Jaguars, and they're banking on him turning this franchise around after a few rough seasons.
After reaching the AFC Championship Game in the 2017 season with Blake Bortles, Jacksonville went a combined 12-36 over the next three years, including a putrid 1-15 in 2020. That put them in position to draft Lawrence with the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.