Trevor Lawrence film study: Clemson QB less than perfect vs. Syracuse

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence struggled for the first time in 2020 against Syracuse, but dissecting every throw tells more than the box score numbers.

The Clemson Tigers survived a push from the Syracuse Orange that saw this matchup become a six-point game almost midway through the third quarter. The 27-21 lead quickly turned into a 47-21 blowout, and the No. 1 overall team continues to chug along on their season. The offense lacked the sharpness and explosive plays that had defined their season to this point.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been the star of our weekly film series. His critical junior season could lead to legendary accolades based on his previous achievements and talent. The future No. 1 overall pick is extraordinarily talented, and we’re tracking his every throw.

His raw stats don’t matter as much as his process, which we’ll track by counting catchable passes and situational effectiveness. I’ve tracked over 70 individuals’ seasons since 2012, and Lawrence’s data already compares to some of the best prospects we’ve seen in that timeframe. We’ll dissect his 27-of-43 passing for 289 yards, two passing scores and one interception as we do weekly.

This was the first game where Lawrence went through stretches of struggle. The Tigers dealt with tight man coverage from the Orange throughout the game, a surprising event considering how the visiting team had performed in 2020. The 1-4 Orange were 35th in passing yards allowed and 42nd in points allowed.

Trevor Lawrence experienced his first struggles in 2020 vs. Syracuse

The Orange certainly weren’t known for their lockdown talent against a star-studded team like Clemson. Yet Lawrence dealt with small passing windows and both he and his receivers had varying levels of success with the adversity. It’s actually a relief as an evaluator to finally have more than one or two passes to dissect and be critical of.

Sometimes Lawrence is so good and unchallenged that it’s hard to see how he responds both in-game and mid-season. The NFL will not be nearly as easy; it’s likely his surrounding cast will never be as good as he has it now in relation to his competition. That moment of challenge came this week as Lawrence’s usual pinpoint precision failed him and he had three interceptable throws after just one in five games.

His sharpness varied as his long stride in his delivery returned. His touch has been significantly better on a consistent basis this season up until this game, but we saw him over-stride and thus overthrow his receivers three times. One was caught for an interception, and another is the one above, which should’ve been an easy catch for the defender.

With too much power going into his front leg, Lawrence’s arm has to compensate for the lack of torque coming from the torso. This caused the ball to sail on him, and the over-the-top safety simply lurks and awaits the miss. Lawrence had been hitting these tough throws in previous games.

His overall performance was conservative by offensive design. The playcalling was timid with 14 of his passes coming behind the line of scrimmage. Another 12 passes came between zero and 10 yards, meaning that only 13 passes that weren’t throwaways traveled at least 11 yards through the air.

Only seven of his attempts were pressured, and he was sacked just once, meaning that pressure wasn’t necessarily a big reason for this strategy. But his receivers lost four accurate balls to drops, and Lawrence’s own decision-making and accuracy should’ve caused the Tigers to be cautious from their own self-imposed mistakes.

Subtracting his four throwaways, he finished with 29 catchable passes on 39 attempts. He was almost perfect on his seven intermediate (11-19 yard) passes, missing just one, but only one of his six deep balls were catchable, and it was dropped. His biggest miss of the day ended up being a pick-six as the ball sailed past his receiver and into the defender’s hands.

Maybe the receiver hooked too far inside and Lawrence expected him to sit as a deep curl route, but Lawrence pointed towards himself after the throw. His placement was slightly off all afternoon and this was a prime example of why it matters so much. He lost a first down, cost the team six points, and the game was tight for longer than what it needed to be.

This hasn’t been an issue this season at all so it’s not as if this is the end of the hype train for Lawrence but how he bounces back matters. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to overcome his mechanical issues mid-game since the defense scored twice and essentially locked up the game without Lawrence contributing much.

The Clemson offense can at times ask Lawrence to be nearly impossibly perfect with their vertical concepts. This hurt Deshaun Watson‘s projection because it made him seem inaccurate, but really it’s the reliance on jump balls that’s simply high-risk. The above play was a dropped interception but almost had no chance from the start because the coverage was perfect.

There were still good things that happened throughout his worst performance of the year. His reading of one-on-one leverage and capitalizing on intermediate routes remains excellent. This dart to the shoulder of his target left the defender clueless as to where the ball was and scrambling to make a tackle.

This is the exact throw he’ll perform hundreds of times at the next level if he has a solid or better top receiver. He’s one of the best in the nation at it, and it translates perfectly to the NFL. These are subtly great plays considering the degree of difficulty and margin for error.

His mindset was also aggressive despite the issues with accuracy. His rollout to the weakside left two open receivers and an unblocked defender running towards him. Most quarterbacks would’ve taken the easier conversion throw on this 3rd and 2, but Lawrence delivers a perfect dart to the deeper route and hits his man in stride.

The traits, aggressiveness and overall talent are still good enough to propel the offense to advantageous field positions and scoring opportunities. His two touchdowns came on easy plays but he set the offense up to do more until drops cost the unit the chance to convert. This may have been a “D” performance for Lawrence but he’s demonstrated that most of these issues were in his rearview.

His next matchup against Boston College in Week 9 will be another chance to show his development. Dominating and cleaning up the mental and physical mistakes will lead to glowing reviews again. Or tripping up and sliding with mechanics can indicate consistency issues.

We’ll be here to cover his progress either way.

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