JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As far as Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen is concerned, using stats isn't the best way to evaluate how quarterback Trevor Lawrence is playing.
Lawrence is completing a career-low 55.8% of his passes and has thrown for 671 yards and four touchdowns with four interceptions. But he also has been hurt by a league-high 10 drops, including six in last Sunday's game against Houston, and the offense has been hampered by 13 penalties.
Lawrence certainly has missed throws, but if you look deeper, Coen said, there are signs that Lawrence is making progress.
"In some ways [he's playing better than the stats indicate], for sure," Coen said. "It's hard when, okay, you may miss a few throws, and then when you do make some, we don't catch them. That's frustrating for sure.
"So, you look at it statistically then, yeah, it should probably be higher than a 50% completion percentage [against Houston], and then there's some throws that he needs to make, and he knows that. It's not a negative, it's just, 'Hey man, we've got to make these throws,' and how can we help you, from a footwork standpoint or an accuracy standpoint, some of those things."
Coen has consistently praised Lawrence's understanding of the offense, especially in terms of making the correct decision to change the play at the line of scrimmage based on what he's seeing pre snap.
"There's probably less than 5% that he is not right on currently in the cans and audibles and stuff like that," Coen said. "I've been very pleased with his preparation. He has worked extremely hard throughout the week at studying the plan, doing extra on his own and some of that is really helping us operate. Did it show in every statistical category on Sunday [against Houston]? No, but he is getting us in and out of the right plays."
One of the Jaguars' biggest plays in the 17-10 victory happened because Lawrence changed the call. Coen called a run, but Lawrence saw the Texans were going to blitz, changed the play to a pass and changed the protection. The Jaguars picked up the blitz and Lawrence hit Brian Thomas Jr. over the middle, and Thomas' 46-yard catch-and-run set up the game-winning touchdown with less than two minutes to play.
"I feel really good operating [the offense]," Lawrence said. "I think every week it's growing a little bit more and more. I think I'm seeing it really clearly. I feel like when I step on the field on Sundays, I have a really great grasp of what we're doing, what we're trying to get done what I'm looking for, all my keys that I'm locked into. I think I'm seeing everything great. I think I just got to eliminate some of the bad plays. Obviously I've had one or two a game that are hurting us as far as turnovers go, so I got to find a way to eliminate those."
The Jaguars rank eighth in the NFL in yards per game (356.3) despite the turnovers, penalties and drops. Coen expects that number to increase once the offense starts to function efficiently. If what happened in Tampa Bay last season when Coen was the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator is a barometer, that could happen within the next few weeks.
The difference between the Bucs' offense in the first four games of the season versus the final 13 was significant. In the first four games, Tampa averaged 24.3 points, 223 passing yards, 96 rushing yards and 319 total yards. In the final 13 games: 31.2 points, 258.8 passing yards, 165.5 rushing yards and 424.4 total yards.
That's a touchdown better, 70 more rushing yards, and 100 more total yards per game once the Bucs got their offense figured out.
Coen said it was a matter of needing some time to figure out what the Buccaneers did well, and then maximizing it. Which is what the Jaguars are doing now.
"I think we're getting there," Coen said. "You saw glimpses within the first two weeks. You saw glimpses of it on Sunday, the touchdown drive early in the game was operating at the level of which you want to be able to go operate at."
The Jaguars offense will face a test this week when they visit the San Francisco 49ers (3-0) on Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, FOX). The 49ers have allowed the third-fewest points per game (16.3) and fifth-fewest passing yards per game (162) in the NFL. It will be a measuring stick to see if the offense can build upon the good things they are doing.
"We are still trying to figure out what it is truly we are best at in the pass game and what that looks like. From a run scheme standpoint, we've got to be able to do what we do best and people have to stop that as well instead of, 'Man, they do this so we have to do that.' It's like we've got to go do what we do best."