It was a play that made little sense at the time and doesn’t make much more sense a day later.
With just under nine minutes remaining in what turned out to be a 35-6 beatdown of the New England Patriots, Jags QB Trevor Lawrence took off and ran around the left side of his o-line and looked to be on his way to yet another score when he suddenly stopped and took a knee at the one-yard line.
But why?
The only reason players kneel before scoring is to run the clock. However, nearly nine minutes remained.
So, what gives?
After the game, Lawrence jokingly told CBS Sports he was trying to get Bhayshul Tuten a touchdown, which happened on the next play.
However, when speaking with local media, Lawrence said that he just made a mistake.
“Yeah, the whole drive was kind of — trying to put together a good drive, but it was four-minute thought so we got down there, and so when I broke free, and no one tackled me, it’s something we talk about all the time potentially in those situations, going down, keeping the clock running, that was too much time,” Lawrence explained. “I looked at the clock after, and I was like, ugh, there’s still eight minutes left.
“Probably unnecessary there, but just trying to eat as much clock is possible, they use the time-out after that. Trying to give them as few chances as possible to get back in the game. If you do the analytics, people will probably be all over it online, I’m sure. Probably wasn’t the best decision, but we scored the next play. Give Bhayshul a touchdown. That’s cool. Let him get in the end zone.”
So, there you have it. Lawrence claims he just made a timing mistake. That’s a pretty big mistake, though, when you’re in the four-minute offense with nearly nine minutes left.
The explanation didn’t sit well with many fans online, who saw potentially nefarious motivations behind the move.
“You got 8 minutes on the clock are up 3 touchdowns you take a knee on the end zone to burn time? Nah I dont buy it if that was the case you could go for a 2 pt conversion. Somebody told him to take a knee,” one user wrote.
“Ummmm…… Anytime Touchdown prop where his odds to score a touchdown were around +290 to +300 lol but ok,” wrote another.
“Uhhhh? @FBI we still investigating illicit gambling or what?” another asked.
“Whose point spread was he protecting and how much was at stake?” asked another.
It’s always best not to assume the worst possible explanation for someone’s actions, and it’s entirely possible and indeed probable that Lawrence is being honest about what happened.
However, in a world where the NFL is trying desperately not to appear to be under the influence of sports gamblers, Lawrence’s actions really, really don’t help.