The Pittsburgh Steelers are hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. The Jaguars are boasting one of the best records in the AFC at 5-2 and will pose a difficult challenge to the Steelers. QB Trevor Lawrence is an ascending quarterback in the league in the middle of his third season and he leads a high-volume passing attack. With three of the Steelers’ cornerbacks questionable for the game, that could pose some issues.
Lawrence has been efficient passing the ball with a touchdown to interception ratio of eight-to-three in the 2023 season. That doesn’t mean he is perfect at protecting the ball — he is not. He is currently tied for the third most fumbles at the QB position this year with six. In fact, dating back to his debut in 2021, he is tied for the second most fumbles with 27.
When looking at a quarterback’s performance, it is easy to overlook fumbles as most people glance at the passing statistics, but he has lost 17 of those 27 fumbles in his career. That starts to paint a different picture of Lawrence’s ball security. For comparison, QB Kenny Pickett has fumbled just four times in his career, zero in 2023. Not bad for a quarterback who was taken off draft boards due to his small hands.
That will be something to watch for in this matchup between the Steelers and the Jaguars. Pittsburgh’s defense has forced the most fumbles in the NFL this season with 11 which is all the more impressive when you consider they already had their bye week and have played in one less game than most other teams. Since Lawrence entered the league in 2021, the Steelers are tied for the fourth most forced fumbles at 38.
OLB Alex Highsmith, OLB TJ Watt, and LB Cole Holcomb are leading the team with two forced fumbles each. DL Montravius Adams, DL Keeanu Benton, DL Larry Ogunjobi, and CB Chandon Sullivan each have one. You can bet that the defensive coaching staff has brought up Trevor Lawrence’s ball security deficiencies and has been preaching this to the team ahead of the game. Which player will take advantage and knock one loose on Sunday? He has it coming with his “little yellow towels” comment he made earlier this week.
