The Jaguars are headed back from London with a much-needed win and a little bit of momentum. The big question for Doug Pederson, Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the Jaguars — can they keep it going.
Jacksonville did all the damage it needed before halftime and turned back the Patriots in a 32-16 win at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. It was a significant win for the Jaguars, who needed to beat a rebuilding New England team to keep whatever faint playoff hopes that they have alive.
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Even with some late-game drama, they responded with their most thorough performance of the season against the struggling Patriots. Lawrence led a pair of first-half touchdown drives, Tank Bigsby and the ground game thrived and Parker Washington set a franchise record with a 96-yard punt return for a score to give Jacksonville some much-needed relief as it heads back home.
Jacksonville (2-5) couldn’t afford an 0-fer in London against a pair of rookie quarterbacks. The Bears demolished the Jaguars last week at Tottenham Hotspur and cranked up the heat once again on Pederson, Trent Baalke and Co. Facing one of the league’s worst teams, the Jaguars did what they needed to do and bring some much-needed confidence back to the States.
“We just needed to feel what winning feels like again. Proud of the guys,” Pederson said. “Proud of the coaches for the way we worked this past 10 days or so over here. Good way to finish this little run.”
Jacksonville kept it interesting against New England. It flipped the game in a hurry with a 22-point blitz in the second quarter and had a shot to put things out of reach early in the fourth. But the Jaguars were denied on a fourth-and-1 run from the 6 with 11 minutes to play and the Patriots responded with a touchdown to get within 25-16. Jacksonville’s beleaguered defense slammed the door shut on Drake Maye and the Patriots after that and Bigsby added an exclamation point insurance score for the final margin.
Can they keep that going? The Jaguars are back at EverBank Stadium against the Packers in Week 8.
“I mean, maybe it sounds bad, but just stop the bleeding for us. Just get on track,” Lawrence said of what Sunday’s win meant. “We have to find some momentum, and we have to start rattling off some wins. That’s just where we’re at. That’s always the mindset, but especially where we’re at now. We don’t have any more time to waste. Put ourselves in a little bit of a hole. It is what it is. We’ve been in this situation before. We know what we have to do, and we know we have some tough teams coming up on our schedule.”
Jaguars corral Maye
The Jaguars were carved up by rookie Caleb Williams last week in London and didn’t want Maye to add them to another highlight reel. Maye, making his second start, looked sharp early. He threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to ex-Jaguars player JaMycal Hasty and put New England in position for a 41-yard field goal from Joey Slye and a quick 10-0 lead.
He didn’t get going again until the fourth quarter when the Patriots were on the verge of getting blown out. New England stuffed Jacksonville on a fourth-and-1 play from the 6, then watched Maye march the Patriots down the field in nine plays. He hit K.J. Osborn on a 22-yard touchdown to get within 25-16 with 8:27 to play. Receiver Ja’Lynn Pol slipped on the two-point try to keep New England down by a couple scores. Maye finished 26 of 37 for 276 yards and a couple touchdowns.
Lawrence keeps ticking up
After a tough four-game start to the season, Lawrence has continued to stack positive games. Jacksonville’s first drive ended with a punt but Lawrence was excellent after that.
Lawrence led two trips to the red zone after that and both wound up in touchdowns. Lawrence tossed a 6-yard touchdown to Brian Thomas Jr. on a tricky third down, then set up another scoring drive with a 58-yard strike to Thomas that went down to the 21. Bigsby capped that series with a 1-yard touchdown plunge four plays later for a 14-point blitz.
Lawrence started with three games under 200 yards passing in the first month of the season, failed to complete 60% of his passes and was sacked 12 times in those games. Since that frosty start, his production has improved across the board. Lawrence was 15 of 20 passing for 193 yards and the touchdown to Thomas. He wasn’t sacked, even with Jacksonville losing left tackle Cam Robinson to a concussion. Thomas had five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m very pleased with how our chemistry has grown and how we continue to grow each and every game,” Thomas said. “I mean, we just want to come out each and every game and just continue to get better. Keep pushing just to be the best that we can be as a team.”
Bigsby, like Lawrence, has cranked up his production after a tough 2023. He entered Week 7 leading the NFL in yards per carry and surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the second time in three weeks. Bigsby had the bulk of the carries again as Travis Etienne missed the game due to a hamstring injury. Bigsby finished with 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 26 carries.
“I feel like this is a time of adversity, and adversity shows real character,” Bigsby said. “It shows who you can be and who you are. I feel like today showed what this team can be when our backs are against the wall and when we’re going through something. Let’s keep going.”
Washington’s big return
Washington has a familiar saying on social media. Chop wood. Carry water. It’s a phrase that drills in the work that sets the foundation before the big payoff. And that’s largely been Washington’s time in the NFL. He had a strong preseason but had been largely absent since then.
With Devin Duvernay on injured reserve, that’s afforded the second-year player from Penn State to, in theory, have a bigger role. In theory, because punt and kickoff returns are fickle. Washington’s shot on Sunday didn’t appear like a good decision.
Instead of letting a punt bounce into the end zone for a touchback and giving Jacksonville the ball at the 20 with two minutes to play in the half, Washington fielded it at the 3 and took off. The blocking was perfect, and Washington was barely scraped by a Patriots player on the play. He ended the return at the goal line by waving and falling into the end zone backwards. It was Jacksonville’s first punt return for a touchdown since Keelan Cole had a 91-yard return against the Packers on Nov. 15, 2020. It was the longest punt return score in Jaguars history.
“I feel like it just goes back to, like you say, your mentality. Chop wood, carry water, keep going,” Washington said. “Before this day I wasn’t starting. I had to step up. Dev went down. So, it’s just being ready for the moment and seizing that moment. So going back so the sidelines it’s, like, Reset, let’s get another one. Don’t get satisfied, chop wood, carry water, keep going no matter what.”
Pederson said that the Jaguars need to enjoy the win, pack it up and move on.
“We’ve got to duplicate it. We have to duplicate the energy,” Pederson said. “We have to duplicate what we did over here. This week in practice has been one of our better weeks of practice, and we’ve got to be able to carry this all the way back and do it again. I mean, that’s what this league is. It’s a short-term memory. You just try to go 1-0 each week, but I thought the guys really handled themselves professionally while we were here for the 10 days.”