The Jacksonville Jaguars announced on Wednesday that quarterback Trevor Lawrence (left shoulder injury) will miss his second consecutive game on Sunday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson also confirmed that Mac Jones will get the start on Sunday against the Detroit Lions before the team heads into its Week 12 bye.
Lawrence suffered a sprained AC joint in his non-throwing shoulder during the Jaguars’ loss to the Eagles on Nov. 3. While Lawrence played the rest of the game, Sunday will mark his second straight week on the sidelines and only the third game he has missed in his career.
This season has been inconsistent for the former No. 1 overall draft pick out of Clemson. While Lawrence has passed for 2,004 yards and 11 TDs, his completion percentage has been worse than 60 percent five times. Lawrence has also thrown six interceptions and been sacked 18 times.
Despite the struggles, Lawrence’s QBR (61.8) is still higher than in each of his first three seasons in the league. In Lawrence’s last three starts, Jacksonville has looked better with a win over the Patriots and one-score losses to the 6-3 Green Bay Packers and the 7-2 Philadelphia Eagles.
For Jones, this will be his second start with the Jaguars since he was traded from New England. While the Jaguars defense kept the Vikings out of the end zone in Jones’ first start of the season, the offense could not hold its own, producing seven points the entire game. Jones turned the ball over three times in the losing effort.
An area the Jaguars have struggled in has been third-down conversions. As a team, Jacksonville has converted 33 percent of its third downs, which ranks 29th in the league, per TeamRankings. Regardless of the quarterback, the Jaguars need to get better on third down to have any shot of contending for wins.
With the team’s bye week looming in Week 12, Lawrence will have an extra week to recover before Jacksonville heads into a stretch of four division games in its final six contests of the season.
