Trevor Lawrence: I think Travis Etienne will respond great

Late in the third quarter of Sunday’s season opener against the Dolphins, Jaguars running back Travis Etienne looked set to give the team a 24-7 lead when he received a handoff from Trevor Lawrence deep in Miami territory.

But safety Jevon Holland had other plans and knocked the ball out of Etienne’s arm before it crossed the goal line. The Dolphins recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback and Miami’s comeback began, and the club eventually defeated Jacksonville 20-17.

In his press conference on Wednesday, quarterback Trevor Lawrence – who was also Etienne’s teammate at Clemson – told reporters that the running back was fine.

“I mean, he’s the same guy every day,” Lawrence said. “He’s never too high or too low. That’s one thing I love about him.”

“I think he’s going to respond great. He always has. Like you said, we’ve been playing for, this is the seventh year, I guess? The seventh year together. Obviously, we’ve both seen that we both have some plays that we want back. I think we both have a lot of confidence in each other to get each other back up, and you know what you’re going to get out of him. So, yeah, I’m happy for him.”

Etienne rushed for 44 yards on 12 attempts with a touchdown and caught two passes for 15 yards in Week 1. We’ll see how the Jaguars split the running back assignments against Cleveland this week, as Tank Bigsby rushed for 73 yards on 12 attempts against Miami.