Trevor Lawrence had a clear path to the end zone Sunday and decided he did not want it. With just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of Jacksonville’s blowout of New England, Lawrence pulled the ball down on third-and-4 from the Patriots’ 16, found nothing but open grass ahead of him, and went down at the 1-yard line rather than walking in for a touchdown.
The Jaguars scored on the very next snap anyway. Bhayshul Tuten punched it in, Jacksonville finished off a 35-6 win, and Lawrence spent his postgame explaining a decision that lit up fantasy football group chats all over the country.
The quote everyone is repeating
Asked about it on the CBS broadcast right after the game, Lawrence went straight for the joke: “I’m trying to help support the Bhayshul Tuten fantasy people out there.”
That line took off immediately, and it is the version most people have seen. It is also not the full explanation. At the podium a few minutes later, Lawrence gave a much more football answer, and a more honest one.
“Probably was unnecessary there, just trying to use as much clock as possible,” Lawrence said. “They used a timeout after that. Trying to give them as few chances as possible to get back in the game. If you get into the analytics, people will probably be all over it online I’m sure. Probably wasn’t the best decision, but we scored the next play.”
He was right the second time
Give Lawrence credit for the self-scouting, because he nailed the critique before anyone else could. Going down at the 1 with a 22-point lead and eight minutes left does bleed clock, and quarterbacks are coached to protect themselves in exactly that spot rather than take a shot near the goal line.
The problem is that New England still had timeouts, used one immediately, and got the ball back anyway once Tuten scored. The clock math Lawrence was chasing never actually materialized. Jacksonville also gave up four extra points it did not need to give up, which matters to nobody in a 29-point game and matters to a lot of people who had Lawrence in their lineup.
The part that gets lost in the pile-on is that taking a knee there is a mild strategic error, not a moral failing. Lawrence was not showboating and he was not taunting the Patriots. He was trying to end a game his team had already won.
The fantasy fallout is the actual story
Lawrence finished 19 of 29 for 182 yards with three touchdown passes and an interception, which is a perfectly fine fantasy line without a rushing score. Tuten, meanwhile, ran for 73 yards and got the touchdown that came directly out of Lawrence’s pocket. Somewhere a manager who started Tuten over a safer option owes Lawrence a thank-you note.
The broader point about Lawrence is more interesting than the kneeldown. He threw three touchdown passes for the 13th time in his career, passing Mark Brunell for the most such games in Jaguars history, and he now sits second on the franchise touchdown list with 105. That is the kind of milestone that would have led every Jacksonville headline on a normal Sunday.
Where both teams stand
Jacksonville moved to 2-1 and stretched its home regular-season winning streak to six. Travis Hunter picked off a pass in the second quarter, and the defense turned New England into a mess.
The Patriots fell to 1-2, and Drake Maye is the reason. He went 14 of 25 for 199 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble, pushing him to seven turnovers in three games after committing 11 across 17 games last season. New England has a quarterback problem that a 35-6 loss made impossible to ignore.
Lawrence will take the roasting. He earned it. He also walked off the field 2-1 with the best statistical day of anyone on the grass, so the trade seems fine.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.