Week 4 of the 2021 NFL season has arrived, and fans get to see one of the more interesting matchups of the year. The Jacksonville Jaguars, led by rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, will face second-year quarterback Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. The game will kick off tonight at 8:20 p.m ET on the NFL Network. It will also stream on the NFL App and the Yahoo Sports App.
Lawrence and Burrow were the top two college quarterbacks in 2019. The two battled in the College Football Playoff Championship game that year, and it was Burrow and the LSU Tigers who got the best of Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers. Additionally, both quarterbacks were No. 1 overall picks in the NFL Draft, as Burrow was selected by the Bengals in 2020 and Lawrence was selected by the Jaguars this year.
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But for Lawrence, things have not been easy in the early stages of his NFL career. The Jaguars are 0-3, and Lawrence has completed just 54.2% of his passes for 669 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. “I feel like every week I’ve gotten better,” Lawrence said on the team’s official website. “I definitely feel the progress. I feel like I’m seeing it really well. I feel good about where I am.”
While Lawrence continues to adjust to the NFL, Burrow is off to a strong start in his second year with the Bengals. Despite the four interceptions in three games, Burrow has completed 70.7% of his passes for 640 yards and seven touchdowns while leading the Bengals to a 2-1 record. In his rookie season, Burrow only won two games in 10 starts before going down for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
“I expect to be better,” Burrow told reporters earlier this month, per Pro Football Talk. “I put in a lot of work this offseason that I’m excited to show off — as well as all of our guys have. We’re a much better football team that has prepared the way we need to and understands how to win games now, I think. So I’m excited to put that on tape.” Burrow also said: “It’s exciting to play football again. I’m a football player, not just a quarterback. And that’s part of the game. I’m excited to experience it.”
