Jaguars Camp — Aug 23: Lawrence Ran the Red Zone Clean

Trevor Lawrence threw three consecutive red-zone touchdown passes against Carolina's starting defense in Wednesday's joint practice — Jakobi Meyers over a defender's head in the end zone, then tight ends Brenton Strange and Nate Boerkircher — and by John Shipley's account at Jaguar Report he "did not come close to missing in the entire red-zone period." His one blemish on the day was an interception to Panthers safety Nick Scott on a throw over the middle intended for Meyers. Around him, the run game was the practice's best unit: Bhayshul Tuten turned in what Shipley called his best practice of the season, Chris Rodriguez Jr. ground out yards between the tackles, and Brian Thomas Jr., the primary target with Parker Washington sidelined, caught nearly everything thrown his way. Liam Coen's read afterward: "I liked what I saw in the joint, for sure."

The performance landed because of who was in front of Lawrence. Walker Little started that practice at right tackle and rookie third-round pick Emmanuel Pregnon took the first-team left guard job the same day, per Shipley — two returns from an offensive line that had spent most of August losing bodies — and Cole Van Lanen passed his physical Thursday and came off the physically-unable-to-perform list after missing all of camp with a knee injury from last season's finale, also per Shipley. The week's line news cut the other way too, and hard: right guard Patrick Mekari had back surgery, per Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network on Monday, and Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk reported the team expects him to play this season but that he could open on injured reserve, which would cost him at least four games. Jacksonville answered within two days, trading with the New York Giants on Wednesday for offensive lineman Daniel Faalele. "He has some big size... the experience is really what matters," Coen said at the team's website. So the same week produced three linemen coming back, one going under the knife, and a trade — the room is being rebuilt in real time, and the group that carved Carolina's starters is not the group that opened camp.

Friday's game gets filed with deflation in both directions. Carolina won 34 to 17 at EverBank Stadium in a game called off at the fourth-quarter two-minute warning because of weather, per John Oehser at the team's website. Jacksonville sat its entire starting cast — Lawrence, Thomas, Meyers, Travis Hunter, Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker and more — while Carolina played Bryce Young and its first units early; the Panthers' own site headlined it "starters shine." Carolina's ones beating Jacksonville's twos and threes is what the score says, no more. Inside the backup evidence, the story is the third quarterback: undrafted rookie Joey Aguilar went 9-of-10 for 130 yards and hit Trebor Peña for a 29-yard touchdown — the second straight week the game's last score was Aguilar to Peña, after their 43-yard connection against New Orleans. Peña finished with four catches for 72 yards, sixth-round rookie receivers Josh Cameron and CJ Williams combined for six catches, and 33-year-old Ameer Abdullah ran for 45 yards on six carries with a 23-yard burst. "He just continues to make plays and to be in the right spot at the right time," Coen said of Peña, per Oehser. Nick Mullens went 6-of-7 for 65 yards before exiting; Carter Bradley went 6-of-13 with an interception that became a Carolina touchdown. All of it is cutdown material, and the cutdown is next Sunday.

Two quieter data points from the week. The Hunter tracker: in Wednesday's team drills the two-way rookie spent most of his time at cornerback, broke up a pass late in practice, and took limited offensive snaps, per Shipley, before sitting Friday with the other starters — the cornerback-first shape of his usage held. And on defense, the counterweight to a loud camp: the unit forced zero turnovers across Jacksonville's two joint practices this summer, which left Coen openly disappointed, and Shipley logged explosive passes allowed once the second half of Wednesday's session arrived. The takeaway drought is now a pattern, not a day.

The compressed absence ledger. Chuma Edoga sat Friday and the team has not detailed the leg injury he suffered on the first snap of the New Orleans game; reporting around the room lists him as expected back rather than diagnosed. Parker Washington missed practice this week and Meyers wore a brace on his hand after a practice injury, per Kainani Stevens at the team's website; running back LeQuint Allen Jr. is expected to miss the rest of camp with a soft-tissue injury, per Pankti Parmar at Heavy; Wyatt Milum is day-to-day.

Back in July we previewed Jacksonville as a team the market was taxing too steeply for one good season — a case built on stability: same play-caller, same quarterback, a settled offensive line. We've been checking that preview against camp every week, and this one pulled in both directions again. Lawrence against external starters looked like the July case in miniature, and the line got healthier for the first time all month — but the settled five that case assumed no longer exists, with a rookie at left guard, surgery at right guard and a right side rebuilt on the fly. So the read stays where it was: the football keeps checking out, the stability doesn't.

What to watch next: whether Mekari lands on injured reserve at next Sunday's cutdown to 53, and which five linemen open the preseason finale against Tampa Bay together. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._