JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Trevor Lawrence was bad. Then he was really good. Then he was clutch.
And now he and the rest of the Jacksonville Jaguars play another week.
Lawrence bounced back from a torrid first half in which he threw four interceptions with four touchdown passes over the game’s final 31 minutes to lead the Jaguars to a 31-30 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday at TIAA Bank Field. night
“You can’t write a crazier scenario,” Lawrence told NBC after the game. “We said in the dressing room that this is how our season ended. We are never out of the fight.”
The Jaguars’ rally from a 27-0 deficit became the third-largest comeback in playoff history, trailing only the Buffalo Bills’ 32-point comeback against the Houston Oilers in 1992 and the Indianapolis Colts’ 28-point comeback against Kansas City. chiefs in 2013
It was also the Jaguars’ fifth comeback this season after falling behind by nine points or more. They rallied for wins against the Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens. The biggest was a 17-point comeback against the Raiders.
Until Saturday evening.
“Honestly, I’m kind of speechless, just to see what faith can do. to see when a team believes in each other what you can accomplish,” Lawrence said. “A playoff game, down 27-0 and we come back and win. We always get counted out of these games and we don’t care. We love it.”
Lawrence hit four straight drives to cut the Chargers’ lead to 30-28, then led the Jaguars on a 10-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Riley Patterson’s 36-yard field goal as time expired.
Lawrence completed 28-of-47 passes for 288 yards and became the second player in NFL playoff history with three or more touchdown passes and four or more interceptions in a game. Ben Roethlisberger had four each in the 2020 wild-card game against the Cleveland Browns.
Lawrence’s performance in the first half can be described in no other way than terrible.
His first pass was a touchdown, making him the first quarterback to throw a touchdown in his first career postseason attempt since Aaron Rodgers in the 2009 wild-card round.
His eighth pass was picked off.
His 12th pass was picked off.
And there were still two minutes left in the first quarter.
Lawrence would throw another interception in the first half, and that punt was as much an end to the Chargers’ offense as it was to his half. That made him the first player to throw four touchdowns in a playoff half since Brett Favre in 2001, and the third quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw four interceptions in the first half of a postseason contest.
The Chargers pressured Lawrence in the first half and took away many of the short, quick passes that have been so effective this season.
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