Can the Jacksonville Jaguars knock off the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football? We make our prediction in today’s episode of the Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast.

To watch the episode, view above.

Trevor Lawrence also spoke on Wednesday. For a transcript, read below.

Q: On if he feels the importance of Monday’s game vs. Buffalo has been heightened?

Lawrence: “I think they’re all important. I think that’s what’s frustrating is the first two were important. Offensively, we didn’t play up to our standard and didn’t play the way that I know we can play. That’s where the frustration was from. More so not looking ahead to the next week. Each game, each week has enough worries of its own. You focus on the one right in front of you. I think more just obviously disappointed in the result on Sunday. You come in here though, we’ve had a couple days to let it marinate, let it breathe and move on and we’re ready to go attack Buffalo. Yeah, it’s an important game. This is a good team. This is a team, you look at the last handful of years, it’s always one of the better teams in the AFC and in the NFL. That’s a team we want to be moving forward. When people think of the Jags, you want to think of a team that is one of the best teams in the NFL, that is a top contender in the AFC. We understand the matchup and the team we’re playing and what it’s going to take to beat a really good team in Buffalo. We’re looking forward to the opportunity, but we’re not making it more than what it is. Every game is important. We have to just attack every week, like we’ve said before.”

Q: On the team’s positive reaction to his blunt postgame remarks?

Lawrence: “Yeah, look, I think our team has responded great to not just what I had to say after the game and just things that we’ve talked about in here, whether it was over there after the game or in the next few days over here when we’re just going through the tape and just talking about kind of things that we need to do, things that we need to address and really moving forward. How do we move forward? How do we get better from it instead of just being pissed off about the result? How do we use it to actually learn from it and get better? So, I think we had some great conversations. The team’s done a great job. We’re together. We’re tight. I think that’s the biggest thing that you can’t lose, and we haven’t lost that at all. We’ve got a really close team and it’s important. But yeah, I think of course, we’ve got a mature team that’s going to respond well to things like that or whether it’s myself or Coach Pederson [Head Coach Doug Pederson] or Josh [DE Josh Hines-Allen] or Foye [LB Foye Oluokun] or Evan [TE Evan Engram], whoever says something, speaks up, guys are going to respect it. We have a really tight locker room. No surprise to me there, but we know what we have to do this week, so we’ve got the right mindset.”

Q: On if there is a downside to harboring frustration all week?

Lawrence: “I mean, yeah, it’s not fun being pissed and wanting to get back out there. I think that’s one of the worst parts about losing, especially when you don’t play well on offense or individually or whatever it may be when you had a bad day like we did Sunday. It’s like you want to get back out there and right the ship and go correct it, and you wish you could play sooner. Obviously, physically, you want to recover, and you’ve got to get your body back. But as far as just for your mindset, it’s like you want to go out there and make those plays that you missed or correct the mistakes that are easily correctable that you’re kind of irritated about. Whatever it is, you want to get back out there and do it right. So, from that standpoint, that is kind of that feeling of urgency. That’s why practice is great. We get a chance to get back out there today and not necessarily correct the stuff we did because we moved on to Buffalo, but get a chance to move around, get going again, get our offense going, get in a groove, all those things. That’s fun to just get back out there and flush it. I think that’s the best way is to get out in the field and start rolling and practicing again.”

Q: On playing without Engram and how he saw TE Brenton Strange step up?

Lawrence: “Yeah, of course, Evan is a huge part of our offense, our team. He brings a lot of energy and leadership too. Not even talking about just football, but just his mindset and the way he is in the huddle and the sidelines, very intense. So, you’re missing a big piece of your offense, but great teams figure out a way to next-man-up, to step up and make the plays, which Brenton did a great job of that. I was proud of the way he responded. I’m not surprised. I think he’s been working in the dark for a while, and he finally had an opportunity. Obviously, it’s unfortunate the way it comes about with Evan getting dinged before the game, but either way, he stepped up and made the plays when his number was called and had a lot of trust in him. Nothing really dropped off as far as my trust in that position. If he’s the guy that’s open, I’m going to get it to him and I’m going to trust him to go win his one-on-ones, all those things and you saw him do that in the game. So that was really encouraging, not surprising, but definitely cool to see the guy step up, especially such late notice. I mean, it’s not like he’s getting ready for the game thinking, ‘All right, I’m in Evan’s spot and I’m getting these targets and these looks.’ You never know how games are going to go anyway, but at least, usually, you have time to prepare for that. It was right before the game. He had to kind of shift his mindset of he plays a lot already, but now he’s got a different role. So, it was cool to see him play well and respond that way.”

Q: On what going up-tempo helps the offense with?

Lawrence: “Yeah, I think it’s good. I think it’s good to get and stay in a rhythm. If you start kind of rolling on offense and you hit a couple of plays, it’s always nice getting on the ball and going and attacking the defense. You feel like you get them on their heels a little bit because that’s hard. You’re playing a defense, and they’re used to you huddling every play. They can huddle. They can get set; they can get their call. You get up to the line, you’re snapping it with less than 10 seconds every time on the clock. It’s just that same repetitive rhythm, but then when a team goes up-tempo, it changes for the defense, and they have to get their calls in faster. A lot of times it simplifies defensive calls because you’ve got to play fast. You can’t try to do all these funky coverages and pressures or whatever because the ball is about to be snapped, and you’ve got to communicate that across the board. A lot of times you’ll see defenses kind of simplify it and there’s some defenses that are better than others at playing against tempo. You look at a team like Buffalo, I actually think they’re pretty good at it because their offense does a good amount of it. They’ve been running the same scheme for a long time so they can get in and out of calls pretty quickly. It depends on the week who you’re playing. I’m not saying that it’s going to affect our game plan or what we’re going to do or not going to do, but a lot goes into it. I think tempo is great. I’ve always loved that, really my whole time playing. I’ve been a fan of it.”

Q: On where he thinks he needs to seek improvements to help the team get back on track?

Lawrence: “Yeah, I think for me, just going back to the last game, I thought I didn’t play great early. I missed a couple of throws early in the game on third down that I needed to make to keep us on the field, to keep our defense off the field and just get into a rhythm. I think that was a big piece of it and just consistency like I’ve been saying. I think that there are things in my game that I’m doing well right now that I wanted to do well this season that I’ve made in emphasis and there are some other parts where I still need to work. Consistency on some footwork stuff, some timing, just my eyes on certain plays, not getting too fast or too far ahead of some plays or progressions. I think there are a few things definitely to work on. I think it’s the same message for myself as it is for the whole offense and our team is just a couple of little things, but you’ve got to do them, and you’ve got to be consistent, and those little things get you beat. So, I think that that’s the emphasis, it’s just the details and the consistency and doing the right thing every play. It’s not going to be perfect, there’s going to be mistakes, but really putting an emphasis on those little details because they matter, and they show up in games.”

Q: On if he is going to get WR Christian Kirk more involved?

Lawrence: “Yeah, for sure. He’s one of our best players and obviously, we have a lot of chemistry, and we’ve played a lot together. He’s a guy I trust a lot, and you’re exactly right. I’ve got to get him going this week and I’ve got a lot of trust and faith that it will get going this week and I’m not really concerned about that. I know it’s going to happen. We’ve got to keep trusting the system and keep putting the best plan we can together, but of course, he has to be an emphasis and just the way he impacts the game. You’ve got to get him the ball and get him in a rhythm.”

Q: On ball security in the pocket being a positive takeaway?

Lawrence: “Definitely. I had the one last week which I can do better on. Some of those are tough when you feel like you’re about to get rid of it and then you don’t see the guy. Some of those are hard, but I think for the most part that’s been a big improvement. I’ve kept two hands in the ball when I’m escaping, when I’m stepping up, when the pocket’s muddy and I can see it and I know the issues. I feel like I’ve done a much better job. The one in the game, when the pocket is kind of closing in behind you, just learn from that and sometimes just eat it, tuck it, run it, just get it tucked sooner, especially when you’re playing a guy like [Browns DE] Myles Garrett. He’s a really good player. But yeah, that’s been an improvement for sure.”

Q: On if it feels it’s been a while since he’s won a start?

Lawrence: “Yeah, it’s been a while. I haven’t thought about that way because we won here against Carolina [Dec. 23, 2023]. I didn’t play. That was towards the end of the season, so that’s not something I’ve been thinking about. Obviously, I separate the seasons. I don’t think about the two seasons running together. I know we’ve lost our first two this year and that’s really what matters. So, we’ve got to get on the right page here and get in the win column. We know what we have to do this week and it’s a big opportunity, but definitely want to get a win this week, for sure. As always.”

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