JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence has been one of the NFL's best quarterbacks the past month, throwing a league-high 12 touchdown passes and ranking third in QBR (75.4) and fifth in passing yards (1,059) since Week 12.
Lawrence said after Sunday's six-touchdown performance against the New York Jets that he's feeling as confident as he's ever felt in his career.
It's partly because his comfort level in operating head coach Liam Coen's complex offense has improved as the season has progressed. But also because his comfort level with the receivers has grown, thanks to the addition of Jakobi Meyers and Brian Thomas Jr.'s resurgence after a shaky start to the season.
The combination has the Jaguars' offense rolling. Since acquiring Meyers in Week 9, the Jaguars are averaging 32.9 points per game -- behind only the Los Angeles Rams (35.0).
"You could feel it throughout ... the last few weeks especially, that [Lawrence is] continuously gaining more and more confidence, continuity and chemistry with the guys that he's playing with," Coen said. "... He trusts the group in front of him protecting and trusting the guys out in the perimeter to go make plays when the balls in the air, so I think it's probably a combination of those things that sometimes it just takes a little time."
The Jaguars averaged 20.9 points per game in the first eight weeks (seven games) of the season, in part because of the struggles in the pass game. They led the NFL with 17 drops -- including five by Thomas -- and were last in the league with a 60.6% reception rate (which measures receptions per target).
That's the main reason -- along with Travis Hunter's season-ending knee injury -- the Jaguars sent fourth- and sixth-round draft picks to Las Vegas on Nov. 4 for Meyers, who had 33 catches for 352 yards and no touchdowns in seven games with the Raiders.
In the following six games with the Jaguars, Meyers has caught 27 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns and has become Lawrence's most trusted target, especially in the middle of the field.
"I like throwing to him," Lawrence said. "He's just an easy guy to throw to from a quarterback perspective. It's kind of hard to describe sometimes, just the way he moves, it seems very clear what he is going to do. So that's something I really like.
"And then he is smart too. He's picked up the offense really quickly for it being a pretty complicated offense and having to come in and play three, four days after getting here."
Meyers credits the help he's gotten from the other receivers for helping with that transition.
"Alignment and assignment, when I need a bump, they help me," he said. "They've been doing a great job; Trevor, the coaches, the receivers, everybody. It's been a team effort to make you look the way it's been looking. So, shoutout to all the guys."
Thomas' resurgence has been helped by getting healthy, but also because the Jaguars seem to be using him as more of a downfield option now than earlier in the season. He had 12 targets of 20 or more yards in the first eight games (1.5 per game) and averaged 14 yards per catch. He missed the next three because of an ankle injury, but in the three games since his return, he's had eight targets of 20 or more yards (2.7 per game) and has averaged 20.1 yards per catch.
Coen said they've not altered much of what they are asking Thomas to do and it's a result of the natural growth between Thomas and Lawrence.
"It's more so just you get more and more used to the guys that you're working with and within the fundamentals techniques of the system and the plays," Coen said. "... there are things that you want to attack on a specific defense and just finding out what our quarterback does best, what the other guys do best and how that fits in with how the defense is playing you.
"I think we're probably seeing a little bit more single high [safety] than we were maybe earlier in the year in some ways, and so that's also helped get some one-on-one opportunities."
Still, there's no doubt that the harmony between Lawrence and his top two receivers has improved.
"It's not anything necessarily that's changed about anything that we've done with [Lawrence]," Coen said. "He's just starting to feel more and more comfortable within the system and with the guys that he's playing with."