Jacksonville - 9, Kansas City - 17
Q. Trevor, you guys were really good on third down last year. The first 2 games this season I think it's been 3 of 12 both outings. Is there anything you can pinpoint why the situational football on third down hasn't been as good as it was last year?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I think there's a lot of -- there's a lot of different things that are contributing to us not being good on third down. We're just not executing, really, at every position, at different times. Whether it's the throw at times, the protection, a drop, whatever it is, we're all just having some mistakes in critical situations. And we just got to play better.
We got to make the plays for one another, at times. You know, we got to make it easier on one another. And I think right now we've just had some, you know, obviously some issues. And whether it's communication or what, we got to look and we got to fix it. You know, we didn't play well at all, situationally, third down or red zone.
Q. You had 41 pass attempts and ran it 5 times. But only 12 carries by the backs. What went on today as far as the lack of flow, you know, when it came to running the ball, particularly with those running backs?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: I thought we had a lot of miscues, especially early on in the game on first downs. And I think that hurt us and that put us in some 2nd and longs. You know, that defense does a really good job. They bring a lot of pressures, they try to secure the edges and stop the runs and do things like that.
I think a lot of times, too, we ended up getting the ball on the perimeter on plays where, you know, that's basically a run. If they bring a pressure in, you spit the ball out. I think we had 6 or 7 of those today. And those were times, too, where a run might be called and you get the ball out on the perimeter and it makes it look like we didn't have a ton of runs to the backs today, but, you know, that defense does a good job of packing the box and bringing the pressure.
But I'd say the biggest thing is we got to get better on first down and not get in second and long. And, you know, you feel like you got to get something back, but didn't just have much success with it today.
Q. Two part for you, Trevor. First, for you, immediate aftermath of this one, who did you talk to? What's the conversation with the coaching staff? And secondly, did you feel like the play calling and the order of plays perhaps was disjointed and that led to the choppy nature of not maybe getting a fluid offense today?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: No, I think we -- you know, I'd have to go back and watch the game. Obviously, it's fresh and a lot just happened. And in the game situations is kind of what I'm thinking about most in my head and where we just, you know, didn't execute.
No, I think, as players, we got to execute better. We had too many mistakes. Some fluke plays, too. You know, like, trying to get the ball to Ag and it ends up being a fumble and they recover it at midfield. Stuff like that.
We didn't get a fourth down early on. Obviously, in the red zone, like I said, I think we were 0-4. And when our defense is playing as good as they are and their offense is spurting like they did today, and obviously we were, too, we got to capitalize on those opportunities in the red zone.
And we had some opportunities. We had a couple plays that were that close, whether it's in the back of the end zone where we make the catch and, you know, they push us out, or whatever it is. We just got to find a way to make those plays.
You know, I missed a throw or two in the red zone where we had a chance. We got first and goal on the one-yard line and end up kicking a field goal when we're down eight. That was a big possession when you look back at the game.
So we just had a lot of opportunities, you know, as disjointed as some of the things kind of were throughout the game. It was just a sloppy game I think all over the place. But we had our opportunities.
We were in their red zone four times and came away with nine points. You know, that's -- you can't do that. You're not going to beat good teams when you do that. So we got to be better.
Q. Trevor, just expanding on that a little bit more. What you can say about the opportunities the defense created today and just their level of play in this game?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Played great. They were flying around. I mean, back-to-back weeks, they played awesome. You know, kept the teams out of the end zone, have created turnovers, given us good field position on numerous occasions. It's just we got to be better. We got to help them out.
I mean, they were on the field a lot today. We had a lot of bad possessions where we put them -- they'd get a turnover, we'd put them right back on the field. Really, their back was against the wall the whole day. They played great and we got to play better. We got to help them. That was just bad by us.
Q. Trevor, when you walked off the field today, how would you describe your emotion of not getting -- your offense not getting into the end zone for the entire game, which is, you know, a pretty big rarity?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, it's just we're better than that. We're a better team. We're a better offense than that. And I think that's what's disappointing, is when you know what you're capable of. And the guys that we have, whether it's upfront, you know, myself, the running backs, receivers, like, we got so many weapons. Like, we got to be able to put points on the board and score.
And that's just kind of embarrassing. It's a similar feeling, honestly, to -- when we played Houston here last year and just didn't -- offensively, just didn't get anything going. And some just bad plays, bad execution, let them hang around all game and then our -- and same thing, our defense played great. That game, too. And we just got to help them and we got to play better.
Q. Trevor, your level of concern with almost everybody back with the offense, second year in the system, and it hasn't just gone more smoothly? Is that a big issue for you or just more of a week-to-week thing?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: No, I mean, it's something we got to fix. So it is an issue. Obviously, we're not -- I mean, we scored a lot of points last week, and we still didn't -- I don't think we played to our standard and how good we can play. And this week, I mean, not even close.
Almost every play, every series there's something we can all do better. Really sloppy. So I wouldn't say -- I'm not concerned. But it's something we got to fix. It's definitely an issue. We got to all look in the mirror and be accountable and be critical of ourselves. It's all of us.
The guys talked about it after the game, just there's plays that we all missed on different series, different plays. Whatever it is. And we got to make them. We got to make those plays and that's what the good and great teams do. And we didn't do it today. But, you know, I'm not concerned. But we got to do it.
Q. Trevor, you used the words disappointing and frustrating. Doug said ticked and mad in the locker room. Can you just give us an idea of how pissed off you guys are with the performance?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, you wait -- this is a team that beat us in the playoffs last year. And you kind of had that fresh in your mind all offseason. And the schedule comes out, you got week two and Kansas City. We obviously took care of the business in week one and then we got a shot here, offensively, in week one, and then lay an egg offensively. It's pretty frustrating. Yeah, pretty frustrating.
Especially, like I said, when you feel like you let your defense down when they played so well. Got so many turnovers, played -- were flying around. I mean, it was fun to watch those guys. But, yeah, it's definitely really, really frustrating when you leave that much out there, especially being in the red zone, like I said, four times and no points.
And you just think back to all those plays. If you score on one of those possessions, the game is completely different. If we score on that one that we got on the one-yard line, we score on that possession, get the two-point conversion, it's a tied game. So there's a lot of different things. But it's definitely really frustrating.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports