With the Pittsburgh Steelers taking care of their business on Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens, they are now reliant on one of two outcomes. The Jacksonville Jaguars must lose to the Tennessee Titans at 1:00 PM ET or the Buffalo Bills must lose to the Miami Dolphins at 8:20 PM ET.
The first game has some added intrigue because of the quarterback situation of both teams. QB Ryan Tannehill will be starting for the Titans after dealing with an ankle injury for half the season and watching rookie QB Will Levis have more success than him this year. And now QB Trevor Lawrence, who was a game-time decision coming into today, is officially cleared to play. The Jaguars’ official inactive list did not list Lawrence. He is active and available, per the Jaguars’ PR account on X.
WR Christian Kirk, who was reactivated off IR recently is listed inactive, so they will not receive a boost there.
Lawrence sprained his shoulder in Week 16 and missed the first game of his career last week. The Jaguars still managed to win over the Carolina Panthers behind C. J. Beathard, but relied mostly on their running game to get it done. Beathard completed 17 of his 24 attempts for 178 yards. Either way, they managed a 26-0 victory over the Panthers and have plenty to play for against the Titans today.
With Lawrence playing, it is important to note that he was unable to throw full speed as recently as Thursday at practice. He has progressed enough to get the start in this important game, but is playing injured and that shoulder injury was to his throwing arm. The Titans have a respectable pass rush, currently at 45 sacks on the season. Per Ian Rapoport, Lawrence’s status was more about pain tolerance, so one wrong hit and he could be dealing with a lot of pain.
Lawrence has a history of coming back from injuries to play throughout his three-year career. He has come back a week after having a low ankle sprain in 2021, a toe sprain in 2022, a knee bruise, high ankle sprain, and concussion in 2023, and now this shoulder sprain. His toughness is impressive, but his performance in the games immediately following those injuries have been up and down.
In 2021, after the low ankle sprain, he completed 16 of 35 attempts for 162 yards in a 23-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Following his toe sprain in 2022 he completed 30 of 42 attempts for 368 yards and three touchdowns. More recently, following the high ankle sprain he lost to the Cleveland Browns with 28 completions on 50 attempts with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Following his concussion on Dec. 17th, they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-12 with a rough outing from Lawrence.
Lawrence told NFL Network’s James Palmer that he feels good and he doesn’t expect to be limited at all today.
Coming back from a throwing shoulder injury is more difficult than a sprained toe or a low ankle sprain, so this will be a unique challenge for Lawrence. Currently the Jaguars-Titans game seems like the Steelers’ best chance to get into the playoffs, so all eyes will be on that game for the early slate of the final day of regular season football. Here is a video of Lawrence warming up from Florida Times-Union’s Demetrius Harvey.
Though the Titans technically have nothing to play for, they have a chance to bounce their division rivals from the playoffs and head coach Mike Vrabel said they are highly motivated to get a win. The Steelers will need every bit of that motivation now that the Jaguars’ starting QB is back and supposedly not limited.
