Lawrence exits early as Jags fall to Bucs
TAMPA — Bah humbug.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were drubbed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Christmas Eve, 30-12. It marks their fourth consecutive loss.
They were blanked in the first half and never could get into the game, trailing by as many as 30 points.
Trevor Lawrence started for Jacksonville after spending most of the week in concussion protocol.
He cleared the protocol Saturday and traveled with the team to Tampa, but threw two interceptions and lost one fumble in the loss.
Lawrence exited the game at the end of the third quarter with a shoulder injury but never went to the locker room or the medical tent on the field.
Here are the Takeaways:
Lawrence looks rusty, exits early with shoulder injury and three turnovers
Lawrence looked like a player who didn't practice for the majority of the week. With the Jaguars already missing Christian Kirk (IR) and Zay Jones (hamstring), his timing seemed off with most receivers during the game.
It was apparent on the opening drive where he threw an interception with Parker Washington and Calvin Ridley seemingly on separate pages. Then he sailed a ball over Evan Engram's head, which was picked off by Antoine Winfield Jr.
And on Jacksonville's first drive of the second half, Lawrence fumbled to give the Buccaneers the opportunity to open a 27-point advantage.
Lawrence had a string of turnovers in recent weeks, coughing the ball up nine times (five interceptions, four fumbles) in Jacksonville's last three games.
He exited the game with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. It may have happened on a play where he dived for a first down and landed out of bounds on the Buccaneers' sideline.
Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield torch Jaguars’ secondary
It was announced Andre Cisco and Tyson Campbell would be active Sunday after missing last week's game. The thought was that it'd bring stability to Jacksonville's secondary.
But Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans thought otherwise, combining for two touchdowns in the first half.
On the first, Evans turned inside Campbell at the goal line and used the space behind him to get open for an easy catch.
On the next one, he high pointed the ball with Campbell and Cisco in tow, coming down in the end zone to make it 20-0.
December to forget for McManus
December has not been kind to veteran kicker Brandon McManus. He's missed five of his last six field goal attempts and has missed his last three of 50 yards or more.
He sailed a kick wide right on Jacksonville's second drive of the day and did not attempt another kick for the remainder of the night.
Head coach Doug Pederson has highlighted missed field goals as one of the areas of improvement the team needed to make to turn around its losing streak.
He likely won't be pleased that McManus missed another kick.
Elijah Cooks flashes in first half, not utilized for remainder of the game
Rookie wide receiver Elijah Cooks led the team in receiving yards at halftime with three receptions for 36 yards at the break.
He'd finish his night with three catches for 36 yards. He was seemingly stashed on the bench while Jacksonville struggled to make plays in the second half.
This would've been a perfect game to test him and see what talent the firstyear player has.
Especially as the Jaguars were down two starters for this game and working with other reserve players seeing a large share of playing time.
Calvin Ridley caught two secondhalf touchdown passes.