37-0: Trevor Lawrence's perfect Saturday streak at risk against Chiefs
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s hard to be perfect.
Except, apparently, for Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence who has never lost a game in high school, college or the NFL that has been played on a Saturday.
He’s 37-0: 3-0 at Cartersville (Georgia) High School, 32-0 at Clemson, and 2-0 with the Jaguars. But the most important part about that winning streak is trying to extend it to 38-0 by beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium (4:30 p.m. ET) on Saturday.
“It is what it is,” Lawrence said. “I don’t really think about that. I think about [how we’ve] got to win this game to keep going, to keep playing, to keep our season alive. So that’s what I think about.
“Trying to go 38-0, if you want to put it that way. But about that streak or whatever, just honestly kind of a coincidence that I’ve had Saturday games on all three levels. But, yeah, let’s keep that going. That means we’re playing again next week. That’s the plan.”
Lawrence’s two NFL victories have come in the past two weeks. The Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 20-16 in Week 18 at TIAA Bank Field on Dec. 7 and followed that with last Saturday’s rally from a 27-0 deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 in a wild-card playoff game at TIAA Bank Field.
Both of Lawrence’s state championships at Cartersville came on Saturdays (he won another regular-season game on a Saturday) before he signed with Clemson as the No. 1 recruit in the country. Since he was 34-2 as a starter with the Tigers there were a lot of Saturday victories. Among them are three ACC championship game victories, and he threw for a combined 742 yards and eight touchdowns with one interception in victories over Virginia, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
Lawrence also beat Notre Dame and Ohio State in College Football Playoff semifinal games on Saturdays.
Per ESPN Stats & Information, most of the other college quarterbacks who were undefeated on Saturdays since at least 2004 either didn’t play in the NFL, haven’t started an NFL game on a Saturday, or don’t have an unbeaten record.
Lawrence said he couldn’t remember the last time he lost a game on a Saturday. He guessed maybe a championship game in middle school, but added that he knows it must have happened at some point.
Jaguars receiver Zay Jones was astounded when he heard about Lawrence’s Saturday record. That’s a lot of winning, which Jones said he didn’t really experience at Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas, or at East Carolina University. The Pirates were 10-3 in Jones’ freshman season but went 8-5, 5-7 and 3-9 over the next three seasons.
“I love my high school, loyal forever. I’m sorry this is going on the record, but we weren’t the best,” Jones said. “I feel bad for saying that. I mean it was true at the time. We were good, but we were not the best, so I lost a ton. Loyal and bold, purple and gold, my ECU guys, we had our struggles. Any Pirate fan would tell you that. Unfortunately, again, I lost a lot in college.
“Where did Trevor grow up again? I should have just went where he went and maybe everything would have been all right.”
There is one person, however, who has nothing to say about Lawrence’s Saturday domination, because talking about it could possibly jinx things for this Saturday.
“La, la, next question,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said.
