Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence ‘day-to-day’ with knee sprain with Saints game on short week

Last updated: 2023/10/16 at 11:07 PM

BigP Published October 16, 2023

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson was mostly coy when asked Monday about quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s sprained left knee.

Pederson called Lawrence “day-to-day” and said he was sore but feeling better. Pederson also said he wouldn’t know whether Lawrence would play Thursday night against the Saints until game time.

When pressed about specifics regarding Lawrence’s injury, Pederson said: “That’s out of my realm. That’s out of my jurisdiction.”

Lawrence hurt his knee on a sack with roughly three minutes remaining in a 37-20 victory over the Colts on Sunday. Pederson defended having Lawrence in the game with a 14-point late lead and the play call that had Lawrence rolling out on third-and-7 at the Indy 16 behind an offensive line that was without both starting guards.

Lawrence faked a handoff and was immediately under heavy pressure from Samson Ebukam, who blew past rookie tight end Brenton Strange. Pederson suggested Lawrence should have taken a “short sack” instead of trying to outrun Ebukam, who tackled Lawrence by the left ankle for a 17-yard loss.

“If you don’t feel like you can get outside, you go down,” Pederson said. “So part of that’s on the player, and then we coach that better, we can emphasize that more. But the play call? I’m 100% behind the play call. … It’s a good way of getting your quarterback on the perimeter to get the first down and pretty much ice the game at that point.”

Lawrence completed 20 of 30 passes for 181 yards, with two touchdown passes and an interception in Jacksonville’s third consecutive victory. He wasn’t limping after the game, but he did leave the stadium wearing a knee brace.

“Obviously, you don’t want to see that,” tight end Evan Engram said. “That’s why we just got to finish better, not even be in that position. But he was in good spirits and hopefully he’ll be all right.”

Added receiver Christian Kirk: “He’s tough. I know he’s dealing with whatever he’s dealing with, but pretty sure he’ll be all right.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.