How Jaguars used bye week to silence concerns about Trevor Lawrence

A story from October revealed that some previously questioned whether or not Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence would "ever put in the necessary work to go from decent to great at the next level." That was before Jacksonville entered its Week 8 bye with a record of 4-3. 

On Wednesday, ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano shared how first-year Jaguars head coach Liam Coen used that midseason break to improve Lawrence's overall confidence. 

Jaguars made in-season offensive changes with Trevor Lawrence in mind

"Coen and his staff used the team's Week 8 bye to drill down on what they believed Lawrence liked and didn't like in the offense and focus on what they could do to keep building it around his strengths and preferences," Graziano explained.

Thus far, that drilling down has paid off in a big way for Coen. The Jaguars won eight of nine games following their bye, and they will enter the playoffs as champions of the AFC South if they earn a home win over the lowly Tennessee Titans (3-13) this coming Sunday. 

Jacksonville also has an outside chance of finishing Week 18 as the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed.

According to Pro Football Reference stats, Lawrence completed 61.6 percent of his pass attempts for 2,132 yards with 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions from Week 9 through Week 17. He also rushed for 235 yards and seven scores across those contests. 

How Trevor Lawrence has "elevated" the Jaguars' offense since the bye

"The biggest difference I see is Trevor running out of the pocket, using his legs and then just ripping the ball," Jaguars offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen recently told Graziano. "He's making decisions he might not have made in the past. I'm talking about in a good way, and it's really elevated the offense."

It also didn't hurt that the Jaguars acquired wide receiver Jakobi Meyers ahead of the trade deadline. Jacksonville later signed Meyers to a three-year, $60M contract extension that included $40M guaranteed.

As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Jaguars eighth among the betting favorites at +1300 odds to win Super Bowl LX. Perhaps Coen will use such information as bulletin-board material if his club reaches 13 wins on the season this Sunday.