Trevor Lawrence of the Jaguars is doubtful to play against the Panthers in Week 17 due to an AC joint strain in his throwing shoulder.
Although Lawrence’s right shoulder sprained the AC joint, head coach Doug Pederson told reporters on Tuesday that it’s too soon to say if he’ll be able to play when Jacksonville plays the Carolina Panthers in Week 17.
Lawrence continued the drive that resulted in a passing touchdown to Calvin Ridley after hurting himself during a scramble in the final minutes of the third quarter.If Lawrence is unable to play on New Year’s Eve, C.J. Beathard would start and played the entire fourth quarter.
Trevor is clearly making improvement. Pederson stated on Tuesday via SI.com, “He is a little sore, but doing better today than he did yesterday, and, you know, we will see where he is at again tomorrow.”
Lawrence had been hurting for the past few weeks. The former first overall pick was doubtful for Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay because of a concussion in addition to his most recent shoulder ailment. In addition, he had been coping with an ankle injury he sustained against the Bengals in Week 13. It’s uncertain how much of a role he’ll play in practice this week given those issues plus this throwing shoulder problem.
“We are aware that this is a physically demanding and aggressive sport, and that injuries will inevitably occur, particularly to quarterbacks. “Every injury he has had is a result of hits and contact, and it is all a part of it,” Pederson stated. And he has been lucky enough to recover from all of them. That is his style and his aggressiveness. We’ll have to wait and see where he is this week, but we’ve been lucky that he’s been able to be available each week thus far.”
Jacksonville needs to win this game against the Panthers in order to have any chance of winning the division. The team now shares a tie in the standings (8โ7) with the Colts and Texans, but it has the tiebreaker advantage. But a defeat in the last two weeks could be sufficient to open the door for Houston or Indianapolis to pass them for the division title.