Lawrence, Jags travel to Jets for big Thursday Night Football game

Fresh off an overtime win in Jacksonville over the Dallas Cowboys, former Clemson football quarterback Trevor Lawrence will lead the Jaguars into New York (New Jersey) to face off against the New York Jets Thursday night in the first game of the NFL weekend.

These “island” games are made for stars or are where stars are born, promulgated to hero status.

After a widely panned rookie season, there are those that think Trevor Lawrence has already made it.  Amazing what a win over the Dallas Cowboys does for a guy’s reputation in the league.

Lawrence has completed 66.0% of his 500 passes on the season, for 3,520 yards, 24 touchdowns with 7 interceptions on the season and the Jags are still breathing in the playoff race, having gone 4-2 in their last six games and have left last season’s 3-14 debacle in the rearview mirror.

There’s still a ways to go for this team, lest we put the cart before the horse.

There was a 5 game mid-season losing streak that included horrific losses to 1-11-1 Houston and 4-10 Denver at home.

Even as well as Trevor is playing now, he’s still only the 12th-ranked passer for quarterbacks with 400 or more dropbacks on the season.

With former Clemson football players Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Tyler Shatley on offense, the Jags have improbably become must-watch TV for me

In other words, there’s still work to be done.

Once you recognize that fact, this is a fun team to watch, perhaps because of the Clemson connection on the offensive side of the ball.

Not only is Trevor running the show, but Travis Etienne is in the backfield and Tyler Shatley is a regular contributor along the offensive line.

The short weeks that come with Thursday night football almost always lead to snooze fests and poorly played games as the bodies haven’t had time to recover and game plans are simplified.

For Trevor and the Jags though, it’s the next step, the next challenge for a team that moving in the right direction and the question is will it be another hurdle they clear on their way to turning the franchise around or will it be the “same old Jaguars”?