JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Trevor Lawrence says he hasn't done anything differently the past three weeks.
He hasn't changed how much film he watches, his workout, what time he gets to the Jacksonville Jaguars' facility, what time he eats lunch, what he does during practice, how much he's studying when he's at home ... nothing about his routine has changed over the past three weeks.
Except the results.
Only Detroit's Jared Goff has a better completion percentage, only Chicago's Caleb Williams has a better QBR, and nobody has been more accurate. And the Jaguars have gone 2-1.
"I prepare the same way every week, go through my same process," Lawrence said. "It gives you confidence and it gives you a blueprint of you're not trying to find something every week. You're not searching for something, you have your same process that you stick to, whether it's the way you watch tape, the order in which you watch it, kind of the timing, which days, all that stuff.
"I stay pretty consistent, and then I think situationally the last few weeks we've done a good job of scheming some things up and having a good plan for different situations that have helped us."
The Jaguars started 0-4 against teams that are a combined 13-14 now (Miami, Cleveland, Buffalo and Houston) but have gone 2-1 since against Indianapolis, Chicago and New England, who are a combined 9-11.
Now Jacksonville is 2-5, and while making the playoffs is unlikely -- only 11 of the 178 teams that started 2-5 since 1990 have made the playoffs -- Lawrence continuing to play at this high level certainly would help. His play will be critical with the Jaguars' next five opponents having a combined 24-9 record -- beginning with Sunday's home game (1 p.m. ET, Fox) against Green Bay (5-2).
"We will go as far as he takes us, and when he's at his best, we're really good and we're hard to beat," receiver Christian Kirk said. "And so it's obviously great to see him playing the way that he is, and I know he'll continue to do that. And like I said, if he is, we will be put in pretty good places to be able to win football games."
But if Lawrence didn't alter his preparation in any way from the first four games, why has he played much better the past three games? He has been more accurate, gotten better protection, and is riding that momentum.
Accuracy
Lawrence has completed 74.2% of his passes over the past three games, the second-highest completion percentage in the league. Only Goff (80%) is better, and he has played one fewer game because the Lions had their bye in Week 5. Lawrence also has been off target on only 6.8% of his passes, per ESPN Research, which is the best in the league in that span. And his QBR (82.7) is second only to Williams' (86.4).
In Weeks 1-4 he completed 53.3% of his passes, which ranked below every quarterback but Indianapolis' Anthony Richardson (50.6%), and his off-target percentage (20.9%) ranked 28th. Lawrence's completion percentage over the past three weeks would be even better had the Jaguars not dropped five passes. That includes three against Chicago in Week 6, with two drops in the end zone (Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Jr.).
"You want to be as consistent as you can," Lawrence said. "I'm not a perfect player and I've had times where I have been inconsistent for sure in my career. You're going to have some rough games in this league and you're going to have some times where things seem a little bit difficult. ...
"You strive for perfection and you're trying to be perfect. You're never going to get there, but you want to be as consistent as possible. So that's something I've challenged myself with over the past year is to do that."
Better O-line play
Lawrence was sacked 12 times and hit 30 times in the first four games. He has been sacked three times and hit 13 times in the past three. The starting lineup has stayed the same. The only change was that Walker Little played the majority of last Sunday's game at left tackle after Cam Robinson left the game with a concussion.
In the Jaguars' two victories in their past three games -- over Indianapolis and New England -- Lawrence hasn't been sacked and was hit a total of four times.
"That's the goal each week," head coach Doug Pederson said. "The protection's been really good the last couple of weeks. Our guys take a lot of pride, and we work at it. We work at it hard. Our coaches study our opponent and the type of blitzes and pressures that they're going to bring. Then we put our guys in it during the week, so it's just credit to all the guys just working hard."
Pederson said having the same five starters each week has been a big factor in the line's gradual improvement. Last season, the Jaguars had seven different starting combinations, including adding left guard Ezra Cleveland via trade and putting him in the lineup in Week 13.
"I think everybody's just jelling together," Lawrence said. "So, they've done a really nice job and just got to keep doing it."
Streaky play
Lawrence has been able to shake off rough starts before, and it looks like he's doing it again.
In the first half of the 2022 season, he completed 62.5% of his passes with 9 touchdowns, 9 interceptions and a 2-6 record. In Weeks 9-18 he completed 69.7% of his passes (second in NFL) with 15 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a 65.4 QBR (eighth in the NFL). The Jaguars went 7-2 in that stretch and won the AFC South for the first time since 2017.
During the Jaguars' 8-3 start to 2023, Lawrence had a 61.5 QBR (10th in the NFL) and completed 67.3% of his passes with 12 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions. In the final six weeks, however, he threw 9 TD passes and 7 interceptions while completing 62.4% of his passes. He had a 44.8 QBR and the Jaguars went 0-5 in his starts, but that stretch coincided with his concussion and ankle and shoulder injuries.
"He's resilient," tight end Evan Engram said. "Whenever adversity hits, he takes it personal, he gets better. He attacks the things that he needs to get better at and he pushes through. He's a great example of things aren't going to always go your way. There's going to be some adversity at that position.
"You're going to hear about it, but he shut down the noise and went to work and he's not done. He still wants to be better. He's still going to keep improving."
Lawrence doesn't consider himself a streaky player, and Pederson hadn't really given the idea much thought, but he did say Lawrence has played better the past three weeks and he wants that to continue if the Jaguars are going to have a chance to recover from their 2-5 start.
"Let's hope he's streaky and he gets on a streak, right?" Pederson said. "I mean that's what we all hope for. I think, too, he's continuing to grow with what we're doing and learning. I understand it's only his third year in this system and playing this position. So he is doing a great job for us, and like I said, I hope if this is him getting on a streak, let's keep it going and let's stay with the hot hand."