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The Jacksonville Jaguars received some important news on the eve of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jacksonville announced quarterback Trevor Lawrence cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol and is traveling with the team, suggesting he will be available in the important contest for the AFC South leaders.
While Lawrence played the entirety of Jacksonville’s Week 15 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, it was revealed in the aftermath that the team placed him in concussion protocol.
Rapoport reported as recently as Thursday that the Clemson product was “likely” to miss the game against the Buccaneers. Alas, that is no longer the case, mirroring a situation earlier this season where the quarterback suffered a high-ankle sprain in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals but was available for the next game against the Cleveland Browns.
Lawrence has yet to miss a game in his career since Jacksonville made him the franchise quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft.
He seemed to turn the corner toward stardom last season while throwing for 4,113 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions and leading the Jaguars to a playoff victory for the first time since the 2017 campaign.
However, he has been somewhat inconsistent this season while completing 65.9 percent of his passes for 3,525 yards, 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Jaguars seemed well on their way to a playoff spot with an 8-3 start, but they have lost three in a row and are now fighting for a division crown.
They are tied with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans but hold the tiebreaker with three games remaining.
Jacksonville doesn’t face a team with a winning record in its final three games against the Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans, so the opportunity is there to clinch a spot in the playoffs with a strong finish.
That strong finish is far more likely to happen with Lawrence under center instead of backup C.J. Beathard.
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