Trevor, just your thoughts on being AFC South champions and winning 13 games and what it does for this franchise and the city?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "It's been an awesome year. Just to finish it this way, to be able to win the division, obviously it took a lot of focus and grit throughout the season and just taking it one week at a time. We had some ups and some downs, and you look at how we're playing now, I feel like we're playing our best ball at the most important time going into the playoffs. It feels awesome. It's not easy to do. I've been here a few years now, and we've only won one division championship. We're definitely appreciative of the fact that it's not easy to do, especially when you look at our division and the teams that are playing well and the competition. So definitely proud of that. We know there's more for us. It doesn't stop here. We've put in all this work to get here. Let's not let it go to waste. We've got a big opportunity this week. We'll see who we play later tonight. Got it here again in front of our home crowd. Excited. The fans were awesome today. Expect the same next week. It's going to be rocking, and it will be exciting."
First of all, do they have some division champ merch for baby Shae for her birthday? TREVOR LAWRENCE: "I don't think so [laughter]. She can wear my hat. I think it will be a little too big."
I know the focus for you guys is on what's ahead and the excitement of the championship run, but I wonder if you could reflect back on your first year with your new coach. He kind of broke you down a little bit in training camp to build you back up, but whether it was fundamentals, schematics, anything else, what has Coach Liam Coen meant to you in becoming a better football player?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "Yeah, he's meant a lot to me. Just our relationship has been really cool to see how we've built that and it's progressed, just the conversations we have really constantly throughout the week. It all started back in the spring, obviously when he first took the job, and building that relationship from the very beginning and having honest conversations with each other and things that -- obviously the things, the good things that
he saw in my game, but also the things I needed to improve, and we talked a lot about those
things and got on the same page. Those were some great conversations, now looking back on it, where we could really start from the ground up and work on my game, work on this offense, put it together. Obviously, it took us a few weeks. It wasn't right off the bat that we were rolling and clicking on all cylinders necessarily on offense. Just to see the progression and to see the attention to detail from the coaching staff, not just Liam [Coen], but obviously it's led by him, just the attention to detail throughout the week in the game planning, feeling -- the preparation on Sundays, feeling it come to life, and I think just stacking all those days and all those weeks now is why we're playing so much better offensively because sometimes it takes some time. Now we have so many reps, and really we're ready for whatever the defense throws at us. It's not always perfect, but it's been a fun progression. He's a helluva coach, and I'm glad he's here in Jacksonville and very thankful for him."
38 total touchdowns, single season franchise record now, did that mean anything to you? Does that mean anything to you? Along with that, 4,000 yards again, kept you in for that one. And now second all time now in passing yards.
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "Yeah, I think it's just a testament to this team and the season that we're having. You never do it alone. Can't throw the ball to myself. Can't block for myself. There's so many people that are involved in that, the coaches, the game plans, the stuff that we're doing. Getting guys open. There's just so much -- and our defense getting us the ball back. It's really everyone has a part in that. For individual success, it's always because of the team and because of the unit, but I do take pride in that. I want to play well. Part of that is putting up numbers. It's not the most important thing, but usually it tells some of the story. So proud of that and proud of our group that we've been able to accomplish that. It's a whole unit accomplishment, not just me. Yeah, it's been some great players here. It's definitely a cool, cool thing."
The offense functioning at a high level the way it is right now, when did that really kind of kick in again for you guys this year? Can it continue? Is there another level to get to with this group? You scored like 30 points seven times this year.
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "I don't necessarily know if it's another level. I just think it's even more consistency. That's always what you're chasing is perfection in a way. There's always things to learn from in a game. You see how we started today, started pretty slow, didn't start great on our first series. So that's something you can take and say, hey, we've got to start better. Can't put our defense on the field right away. After we took the ball, we went three and out. Then just some plays here and there that we didn't hit on. Whether it's me and maybe I need to keep progressing or missed a throw, some of the run game targeting, whatever it is, there's always room for improvement. I think that's the great thing about our
group is we haven't ever felt like we made it. Even though we've had games where we've scored some points and done some good things, there's always been that step back we take on Monday, Tuesday, and say look, we've got to get better at this. These are things we have to improve on. It's not just watching all the highlights and saying, man, we played great. Let's go do it again. You're trying to get better at all the stuff that you didn't do right in the game. I think that's why you're seeing the growth over the season is because we take those little things, the mistakes, the plays that didn't go well, and we get better from them. So we've got to continue to do that. Obviously we're scoring a lot of points, and that's great, we've got to keep doing that, but we've got to continue to make improvements."
You won the division title today on an eight-game winning streak. The Texans were on your heels the whole way. Did you feel that at all? If you did, did it feel like a playoff stretch for you the last couple of weeks? If you did, does that help you going into the playoffs, that you've kind of been in this win mentality since the middle of November? TREVOR LAWRENCE: "Yeah, that's a good question. I wouldn't say it's something that you focus on is someone else because it's just we have enough to take care of on our end. We have games to prepare for and we're playing good teams and you've got to go win those games.But looking back on it and you look at how the season's gone and how big all these wins have been because we had to have them to win the division. I think the lesson is just you never know what's going to happen, and you just have to worry about yourself and control what you can control and play it week by week. We were able to do that and put together a good stretch and win all these games, and we needed it or we wouldn't have won the division. So I think that's the lesson is just keep playing. Just because you have the division lead, that doesn't mean anything. You remember in '22 when Titans had the lead and we were 4-8 and we ended up winning the division. You have to keep playing. You can't think, just because you have the lead midway through the season, you have the division locked down."
Trevor, can you tell us about what just happened in the locker room and what Jarrian Jones gave you and what that was all about?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I don't know if you guys saw, I got a grill. I didn't wear it up here. There's some like pictures going around for the last month or so with me, like an AI picture, with a grill on. So it's pretty funny. People have been asking me when I'm going to get one, and I'm like 'I don't plan on getting one,' but they got me one. I think it was some guys from the team, and I think somehow my wife might have been involved in that, getting my teeth measurements or something because it fit. Something's going on there. Pretty funny. It's just been awesome this year with the team and just how close we are. I think that's really the fun part of it."
Defensive guys giving you gifts. What does that say?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "Yeah, we're a team. There's offense, defense, special teams, but we all come together. I think that's been one of the strongest parts of our team is the complementary aspect of it and having each other's back. When we need a stop, we get one. When we need to go score and pick the defense up, we do it. Special teams has been making huge plays all year. So we're all in it together. There's never been, even early on in the season when we might have had struggles offensively, there's never been that feeling of, man, we're in this on our own, as far as pointing the finger. You do have that sometimes when things aren't going great. It's just been a fun year, and everybody's been together.
We've got more games to play, so excited for that. We've got to keep earning more."
Your first playoff attempt here, you guys came through the back door and basically snuck in with a lot of come from behind wins. You've done a really nice job this year of the lack of respect card, but it feels like you're in this eight-game win streak, especially the last couple of weeks, even the biggest pundits out there are really beginning to recognize and credit you. So how different is it, and how are you able to keep out now positive noise compared to what was once criticism?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: "I think using everything as fuel and it put a chip on our shoulder is valuable at times, but it's never really been about that for our group. I think the edge and the chip on the shoulder that we play with is something different. That comes from within and our team. That's not something that's going to go away regardless of what people are saying, if they're saying good stuff. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The playoffs, you get to prove it. We're going to play whoever this coming week, and if we win, we're going to keep playing. Then we're going to play the team that won the week before against somebody else, and you just keep going. We'll see where it all ends up at the end of the day. Like I said, we have all the confidence that we can beat anybody, but you've got to play well. That's what it's about is playing better than a team for three hours one day, and that's the playoffs. We've got to get ready to go this week. Regardless of who we're playing, it's going
to be a good team, and we'll be ready to go."
