The Jacksonville Jaguars opened the second half of their Week 14 win over the Tennessee Titans with a 12-play drive that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run for Trevor Lawrence.
But according to Jaguars coach Doug Pederson, he never called for a Lawrence run. The play was designed to go to running back Travis Etienne Jr., but Lawrence ad libbed on the spot and took it himself.
“It wasn’t a read. It wasn’t a QB pull, it was a handoff,” Pederson said Monday. “He’s a sharp guy, and the linebacker, 53, came off the edge, and he saw him kind of flash and kind of bend off the corner, and he instinctively pulled the football, stiff-armed him, and dove into the end zone.
“Sort of a bewildered look on the sideline from me and everybody else, like ‘What is he doing?’ He knew what he was doing. It was just a good play.”
That one’s for @jamalagnew 😉@Trevorlawrencee | #ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/X6QK5NkAJc
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) December 11, 2022
On Sunday, Lawrence told reporters after the game that he didn’t think he made the right call when he pulled back the ball from Etienne.
“Honestly, I probably should have handed it, but, like I had like 53 linebacker on the edge, he stepped down one or two steps and I really felt like I could out-run him to the pylon and that’s just what I did,” Lawrence said. “Luckily, got the stiff arm but he recovered a little better than I thought he would so it was close to being a [tackle for loss]. That’s one of those plays if you make it, it’s great like it was, but if you don’t make them, it’s a bad play to take a TFL on the goal line.”
Ultimately, it worked out well and the legend of Lawrence grew just a little bit larger.