Trevor Lawrence threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns, opening the season much like he closed last year, and the Jaguars routed rebuilding Cleveland 34-10 on Sunday to spoil the debut of new Browns coach Todd Monken
Jacksonville scored on six of its first seven possessions, with Lawrence connecting with Parker Washington, rookie Josh Cameron, Brenton Strange and Jakobi Meyers for touchdowns. Three of four targets were wide open.
Lawrence completed 18 of 23 passes and finished with a career-high rating of 150.6. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the league down the stretch in 2025 while leading the Jaguars to the AFC South title.
His play under coach Liam Coen was a main reason Jacksonville entered this fall as a trendy pick to return to the postseason and maybe reach its first Super Bowl. The opener was a solid start.
Washington, a pending free agent who’s in contract negotiations with Jacksonville, made a diving catch on Lawrence’s first TD pass and flashed a “pay me” sign to the 42,000 in attendance inside a venue being fully renovated.
Lawrence made it look easy all afternoon against a defense that traded five-time All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett in the offseason and was entering its first season under new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg.
Cleveland had equally troubling issues on the other side of the ball.
Deshaun Watson, making his first start in nearly two years, threw an interception on the opening drive.
“We did exactly what we wanted to start the game,” Monken said. “We’re going to try to put them on their heels and then we turn it over. And then we couldn’t get a first down to get our defense off the field. That is a recipe to get run out of the arena.”
Watson nearly threw another pick on the team’s second possessio
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