When Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 21, he stopped in the tunnel and waited to embrace each of his teammates one at a time.
Seven months after that loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Jaguars are retooled and ready for another shot at a postseason run. While they’ll first have to navigate the regular season and earn another playoff berth, Lawrence is anxious for another shot to take down the AFC’s elite.
“There’s some good quarterbacks in the AFC, for sure, and if you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best,” Lawrence said on an episode of “The Pivot” podcast hosted by Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder. “That’s how it’s set up for us. Last year, we had our shot. We’re gonna get our shot again and when it comes we’ve just gotta be ready for it.
“That’s all you can control. But we gotta get back there. You can’t be looking at Kansas City right now. We’ve gotta get back to that point where you can get a shot at them, the Cincinnatis, the Buffalos, all those teams that have been in the hunt. But it makes me really excited.”
The Jaguars met the Chiefs twice during the 2022 season, but lost 27-17 in the regular season and 27-20 in the Divisional Round. Kansas City went on to win its second Super Bowl in four years.
This season, Jacksonville will meet the Chiefs in Week 2 when Patrick Mahomes and co. travel to EverBank Stadium on Sept. 17. The Jaguars will also meet the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 8 and the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 4.
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