Lawrence throws 2 TD passes against outmanned Falcons, Jaguars romp 31-0 in preseason finale

ATLANTA (AP) — Trevor Lawrence tuned up for the regular season by guiding two long touchdown drives against a bunch of Atlanta players fighting for jobs, and the Jacksonville Jaguars blew away the Falcons 31-0 in the preseason finale Friday night.

Lawrence completed 8 of 10 passes for 91 yards, including scoring passes of 6 and 5 yards to tight end Evan Engram, before calling it a night.

“It was a good night, very clean,” Lawrence said. “As far as just our team, our offense, where we’re at, I think we’re in a great spot.”

The Jaguars made it look easy, which wasn’t at all surprising because the Falcons didn’t play any of their starters. Many of their top backups also watched from the sideline — most notably rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the No. 8 pick in the draft.

Even though Kirk Cousins is set to start for the Falcons, new coach Raheem Morris decided to play Penix in just a single preseason game. The decision raised plenty of eyebrows, but Morris said he got a good look at his prized rookie in practice and didn’t want to risk an injury.

“I hold more value in the joint practices, the mimic scrimmage we were able to simulate,” said Morris, who was hired by the Falcons after the firing of Arthur Smith. “You don’t get mulligans on losing guys in the preseason.”

Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons, sat out the entire preseason as he completed his recovery from an Achilles injury that cut short his final season with the Minnesota Vikings. He’s been getting plenty of work in practice and should be ready to go when the games start counting.

The Falcons are looking to break a streak of six straight losing seasons, but Morris saw no value in giving his top players more playing time in the preseason.

“We’ll continue that philosophy as long as I’m the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons,” he said.

The Jaguars (3-0) went with a different preseason routine, deciding to use most of their starters after sitting them the previous week. They dominated the outmanned Falcons (0-3), who started third-string quarterback Taylor Heinicke.

Jacksonville outgained the Falcons 412-157 in total yards, while recording 30 first downs to just eight for Atlanta.

“I don’t look at it as us versus them,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said. “Yeah, there’s a man over you and then you’ve got to do your best to win that matchup. But it’s more about assignment football. When your starters don’t play a ton in games like this, you want them to come away feeling good about themselves.”

After an unnecessary roughness penalty on a punt return backed up the Jaguars to their own 8, Lawrence directed a nine-play, 92-yard drive for the first TD.

Travis Etienne broke off a 19-yard run, Lawrence found Brian Thomas Jr. coming across the middle for a 38-yard catch and run, and Engram capped if off by splitting two defenders and leaping for a pass in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 6.

Jacksonville’s second possession was more methodical, but the result was the same. Driving 62 yards in 13 plays, the Jaguars converted on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 19 with Tank Bigsby’s 2-yard run before Lawrence hooked up with Engram on another third-and-goal, this time with a 5-yard toss to the left corner of the end zone.

Former New England starter Mac Jones, looking to spark his sputtering career as Lawrence’s backup, took over on Jacksonville’s third possession. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Cooks, who made an acrobatic catch with just 18 seconds left in the first half.

Jones directed another long scoring drive in the third quarter, capped off by Jalen Jackson’s 1-yard touchdown run.

About the only thing that went wrong for the Jaguars was Jones completing a 33-yard pass to Seth Williams for an apparent TD, only to have it wiped out by an illegal shift penalty. The Jaguars settled for Cam Little’s 40-yard field goal.

Jones was 13 of 18 for 113 yards.

Heinicke completed only 8 of 17 for 81 yards before giving way to undrafted rookie John Paddock in the second half.

With their third- and fourth-string quarterbacks getting most of the snaps, the Falcons managed just 25 points in the preseason.

Jaguars: Open the regular season Sept. 8 in Miami against Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins.

Falcons: Cousins makes his Atlanta debut when his new team hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season opener Sept. 8.

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