It’s a start: Trevor makes debut as Jaguars open preseason with loss - WJXT News4JAX

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville got its first look at the future on Saturday night.

It was slow. It was messy at times. It was, well, a start.

Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer made their NFL debuts for the Jaguars as the new era got out to a low-key, but productive-in-spots start in the preseason opener against the Browns at TIAA Bank Field.

The start was about as expected, slow-moving and filled with backups playing much of a game that the Browns won handily, 23-13.

But it was a glimpse of real football, and a glimpse of a promising future that starts with Lawrence.

Lawrence played the first half and left not long after his best play of the game, a 35-yard strike to Marvin Jones, Jr., a gorgeous toss and an even better grab. It was a sign of why the future looks bright for the first time in a long time in Jacksonville.

No, Lawrence and Meyer didn’t crank up the offense in their first outing together. It was a struggle against mainly Cleveland backups. Meyer was disappointed in how lethargic the offense looked at times and vowed to get that fixed.

“Just disappointing offensively, I don’t like slow offenses and I told those [guys], I thought the third quarter was better with just tempo, getting up the line of scrimmage, snap the ball. I don’t want to be one of those slow, wallowing offenses, and we’ll go get that fixed.”

The outcome wasn’t much of a concern. Lawrence got two drives with the starting unit and left early in the second quarter trailing 3-0. The Jaguars punted and then stalled on downs in his possessions. The run defense, which was gashed time and again last year, played well with quite quite a few new faces up front.

“I thought our defense hung in there,” Meyer said. “We gave up a lot of yards passing, but did good against the run.”

While it was an abbreviated night, Lawrence is front and center of that hope.

The most hyped quarterback prospect in years helped lure Meyer from the television set and into the NFL, and entered his first pro game to a burst of applause from the home crowd. Lawrence was dropped for a sack on his first play but came back firing and hit Jones for an 11-yard play on third-and-10.

“It’s disappointing anytime you lose but it is a preseason game and for us, it doesn’t change anything. We still want to win but you do have to take the nuggets that you can learn from and some things you’re going to do well and other things it’ll kind of show you you need to work on this, you got to clean this up. So, we learned a lot, there’s a lot of things that we need to work on.”

Jacksonville didn’t do much on offense under Lawrence. The offensive line allowed sacks on his only two series’ although it did provide a wall for Lawrence’s best play of the night, the 35-yard strike to Jones. That drive wound up stalling out when James Robinson was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 and Lawrence’s night was done after 15 snaps.

He finished 6 of 9 passing for 71 yards. CJ Beathard was the top Jaguars quarterback of the game, finishing 13 of 16 for 102 yards and a 5-yard pass to Tavon Austin. While Meyer spoke of a tight battle between Lawrence and Gardner Minshew, things didn’t play out that way.

Minshew was 4 of 8 for 47 yards and an interception on a desperation heave at the end of the half. The offensive line didn’t help Lawrence or Minshew much. Those two were sacked three times. Jake Luton came in and threw a garbage-time touchdown to Tyler Davis.

Jones looked in sync with Lawrence, catching three passes for 52 yards.

The Browns went without many of their big names, including quarterback Baker Mayfield and defensive end Myles Garrett.

Notable

• Lawrence to Marvin Jones Jr. on a third-and-9 for a gain of 10 on his first drive, two plays after getting sacked. Very good bounceback play for the rookie.

• Lawrence’s best toss of the game came on the final play of the first quarter. The offensive line gave him all kinds of time to throw and he dropped it in Jones’ hands for a 35-yard strike.

• Tight end Tim Tebow logged playing time for the Jaguars, but saw his best chance at a reception poached by Tavon Austin in the third quarter.

• Cornerback Shaquill Griffin looked very good in limited action. He had three tackles and was very good in pass coverage.

• Chris Claybrooks had two outstanding kick returns, including a 77-yarder, but both were nullified by holding penalties.

• Linebacker Shaq Quarterman, an Oakleaf High graduate, continued his solid camp. He had a physical tackle on special teams and played well on defense.

• The offensive line was missing starter Andrew Norwell, but the other four starters played.

• Been tough what to make of cornerback CJ Henderson in camp. He missed time on the reserve/Covid list. He missed last Sunday’s scrimmage for personal reasons. Trade talk began. And then Henderson came out and played very well against the Browns.

He made a pass breakup on Rashard Higgins on a third-and-7 that led to a punt. And Henderson had a breakup on a third-and-10 in the second quarter that forced the Browns to settle for a field goal. After a challenging start to camp, it was an excellent showing by Henderson.

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