Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen said he initially hoped quarterback Trevor Lawrence would throw the ball away on the game-winning drive Monday night before Lawrence's chaotic scramble into the end zone.
After being stepped on by an offensive lineman at the 1-yard line, Lawrence stumbled twice trying to get up.
Coen said his first thought was “Throw it away” before laughing.
He later added, “No, I mean, because when he got stepped on and he's coming out of it, and you're like, oh my gosh, throw it away so we could have another down. Man, what an individual effort. I mean, obviously, tough moment where I can only imagine where he was at in that moment on the ground.”
Lawrence scrambled left, shed two tackles and dove into the end zone with 23 seconds remaining, securing Jacksonville's 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Coen concluded:
“I mean, that's an unbelievable individual effort. Yeah, we'd love it to be cleaner and just make it a nice, executed play. But at the end of the day, it's about winning. And I'm proud of the toughness that he showed at the end of that game.”
Lawrence completed 18 of 25 passes for 221 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and led the team with 54 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, including a 10-yard run earlier in the game.
Right now, the Jaguars are on a dream run. The win snapped Jacksonville's eight-game losing streak to the Chiefs and improved the Jaguars to 4-1 on the season, matching their total wins from all of last year.
Lawrence said he panicked after the stumble and planned to throw the ball out of bounds to stop the clock, but, seeing no defenders nearby, he made a decisive run.
"It was a crazy, crazy finish," Lawrence said.