ATLANTA (AP) — Trevor Lawrence tuned up for the regular season by guiding two long touchdown drives against a bunch of Atlanta players fighting for jobs, and the Jacksonville Jaguars blew away the Falcons 31-0 in the preseason finale Friday night.
Lawrence completed 8 of 10 passes for 91 yards, including scoring passes of 6 and 5 yards to tight end Evan Engram, before calling it a night.
The Jaguars made it look easy, which wasn’t at all surprising because the Falcons didn’t play any of their starters. Many of their top backups also watched from the sideline — most notably rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the No. 8 pick in the draft.
Even though Kirk Cousins is set to start for the Falcons, new coach Raheem Morris decided to play Penix in just a single preseason game. The decision raised plenty of eyebrows, but Morris said he got a good look at his prized rookie in practice and didn’t want to risk an injury.
Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons, sat out the entire preseason as he completed his recovery from an Achilles injury that cut short his final season with the Minnesota Vikings. He’s been getting plenty of work in practice and should be ready to go when the games start counting.
The Jaguars (3-0) went with a different preseason routine, deciding to use most of their starters after sitting them the previous week. They dominated the outmanned Falcons (0-3), who started third-string quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
After an unnecessary roughness penalty on a punt return backed up the Jaguars to their own 8, Lawrence directed a nine-play, 92-yard drive for the first TD.
Travis Etienne broke off a 19-yard run, Lawrence found Brian Thomas Jr. coming across the middle for a 38-yard catch and run, and Engram capped if off by splitting two defenders and leaping for a pass in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 6.
Jacksonville’s second possession was more methodical, but the result was the same. Driving 62 yards in 13 plays, the Jaguars converted on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 19 with Tank Bigsby’s 2-yard run before Lawrence hooked up with Engram on another third-and-goal, this time with a 5-yard toss to the left corner of the end zone.
Former New England starter Mac Jones, looking to spark his sputtering career as Lawrence’s backup, took over on Jacksonville’s third possession. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Cooks, who made an acrobatic catch with just 18 seconds left in the first half.
Jones directed another long scoring drive in the third quarter, capped off by Jalen Jackson’s 1-yard touchdown run.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Jaguars was Jones completing a 33-yard pass to Seth Williams for an apparent TD, only to have it wiped out by an illegal shift penalty. The Jaguars settled for Cam Little’s 40-yard field goal.
Jones was 13 of 18 for 113 yards.
Heinicke completed only 8 of 17 for 81 yards before giving way to undrafted rookie John Paddock in the second half.
With their third- and fourth-string quarterbacks getting most of the snaps, the Falcons managed just 25 points in the preseason.
UP NEXT
Jaguars: Open the regular season Sept. 8 in Miami against Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins.
Falcons: Cousins makes his Atlanta debut when his new team hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season opener Sept. 8.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
