Trevor Lawrence celebrates the Jaguars' first win on his birthday

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For his 25th birthday, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence gave his team its first win of the season – and also gave himself a gift: his first win in nearly 11 months.

Lawrence threw for a career-high 371 yards and two touchdowns and led the Jaguars on their final drive to set up Cam Little's game-winning 49-yard field goal to beat the Indianapolis Colts 37-34 at EverBank Stadium.

“It’s a lovely birthday,” Lawrence said, then corrected himself. “It’s a great birthday.”

It was a cathartic performance for Lawrence, who had not thrown for more than 220 yards in the first four games of the season and had not topped 300 yards since throwing for 364 yards in the Jaguars' 24-21 win at Houston on November 26, 2023 . That was also the last time Lawrence won a game as a starter. He had gone nine consecutive starts without a win. (He missed the Jaguars' victory over Carolina on December 31, 2023 due to a shoulder injury.)

This was also the Jaguars' best offense all season. Jacksonville had scored just 60 points – including 20 last week – and had surpassed 300 yards just twice in its first four games. The Jaguars rushed for 497 yards against the Colts, the most they have had since rushing for 503 yards in an overtime win over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 18, 2022, and 507 in a 34-27 loss at Carolina on Dec. 18, 2022 October 6, 2019.

“I think it’s always good to use these games to build confidence,” Lawrence said. “It gives you confidence in the striker. I think for myself and for the team, just how the game went. Obviously we were in control and it ended up being crazy. I thought it would be good for us to keep talking, deal with the adversity and find a way to finish the game if everything didn't go perfectly at the end of the game.

“The first win of the season was tough and we had to earn the win until the end.”

Lawrence completed 82.4% of his passes against the Colts, the third-best completion rate of his career, and the only blemish was an underthrown pass to receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in the end zone that was intercepted. Lawrence also connected with Thomas on an 85-yard touchdown pass and a 61-yard pass to receiver Christian Kirk, which ended with his 4-yard TD pass to tight end Brenton Strange.

“I always say no one deserves it more,” Kirk said of Lawrence. “He weathers the storm, he doesn’t back down and we all have the confidence in the world that he’ll come here and play one of these games. I'm grateful he did it and when he does it, good things happen. “I know it's great for him and his confidence and for the team's confidence that he's taking us where we want to go .

Sunday's performance will certainly dampen some of the criticism of Lawrence after the difficult start to the season, but it won't completely go away until he puts in a string of solid performances. He did this in the second half of the 2022 season to lead the team to the playoffs and the first half of the 2023 season before being struck by multiple injuries.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lawrence said. “You can’t listen to the good or the bad. So I think things are coming through and I'm sure there are a lot of questions. What's wrong with the Jags? What is that? What is that? After four weeks, well, we'll use it as a shoulder to lean on and have that 'us against the world' mentality and bring us closer together.”

This emerged in the locker room after the game as players sang “Happy Birthday” and doused Lawrence with water after one of the best games of his career. And one of the best in NFL history for a quarterback on his birthday: Only David Woodley (408 yards) and Brett Favre (390) have thrown for more yards on their birthdays than Lawrence.

“We have some momentum now and we have to take it and keep going and try to hold on for another week,” he said.