Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence motivated by 'bust' talk

It appears Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence heard how some were labeling him a "bust" during and after his disappointing rookie season.

“You kind of hear that all season, all offseason, and obviously there's a lot of things that you can't control, but … it puts a little bit of a chip on your shoulder,” Lawrence admitted during a phone interview with ESPN's Michael DiRocco. "That's how we played the whole [2022] season, our whole team, and we understand that we never really got the respect until probably 'till the last game of the season. Until we won that playoff game. So I think we all played with that, with that edge a little bit. That was something that was good for me, good for us. And I think it helped motivate us."

Lawrence struggled during the disastrous Urban Meyer era which he and his teammates mercifully escaped in less than one full campaign. 

According to ESPN stats, the 23-year-old ended the 2021 season ranked 28th out of 30 eligible quarterbacks with a 39.1 total QBR and with a league-high 17 interceptions (tied with Matthew Stafford). 

Under new head coach Doug Pederson, Lawrence and the Jaguars began this past season at 2-6 but rallied to finish with a 9-8 record which earned them the AFC South title. 

Jacksonville then erased a 27-0 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers in a wild-card playoff showdown before the Jaguars fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

"We got a little taste of it and we were close, but we all know there's more out there and we all want to be in [the Super Bowl] and that's the ultimate goal," Lawrence added during the conversation. "This time last year that was really hard to picture and imagine, but now going through what we did this season, having some of the success we did, having a playoff win, playing Kansas City down to the end and having a shot and just not making enough plays, we know what that feels like and we know we belong."

To compare, Lawrence finished this past regular season 15th among qualified players with a 54.5 total QBR, ninth with 4,113 passing yards, and tied for eighth with 25 passing touchdowns. He tossed just eight interceptions across 17 games.