KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence should expect a cold reception Saturday when the Jaguars play the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional playoffs.
Lawrence made headlines for his thoughts on how the crowd noise Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium will compare to the atmosphere last weekend at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, but it’s the weather that could be a bigger issue.
The KSHB Weather Team forecast calls for temperatures in the upper 30s with the potential for a wintry mix around kickoff, which is slated for 3:30 p.m.
Lawrence — a Georgia native who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft after a standout career at Clemson — doesn’t have much experience in cold-weather games.
He’s only played in two games during his NFL career where the temperature at kickoff was below 40 degrees.
The first also happened to be in Kansas City, a 27-17 loss on Nov. 13 earlier in the season.
Lawrence and the Jags were never competitive in that game, falling behind 20-0 and scoring a cosmetic touchdown late. He finished 29 of 40 for 259 yards with two touchdowns but was sacked five times.
The only other sub-40-degree start of Lawrence’s career came last week when led the Jaguars to a stirring comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC Wild Card round.
The temperature at kickoff was 40 degrees and dropping at kickoff.
Lawrence’s four first-half interceptions helped dig a 27-0 hole, but his four touchdowns after that abysmal start keyed the third-largest comeback in NFL postseason history during a 31-30 win.
Still, the cold seems to affect Lawrence’s play.
Widening the aperture to games played with a temperature below 50 degrees provides a larger sample size with five games, including three last season in December or January after Urban Meyer was fired.
The Jags have averaged 16.2 points in those five games with Lawrence, who averages 242 yards per game and has thrown 11 interceptions, including two four-interception games.
He’s only thrown one touchdown in the previous four cold-weather starts before last week.
Lawrence may not need to make a Waffle House reservation this week — even if his Chiefs counterpart, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, called celebrating the win at Waffle House “a baller move.”
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