Jaguars beat Patriots in London as New England’s defense falters in sixth straight loss: Key takeaways

NFL Week 7 live updates: Patriots-Jaguars from Wembley, Haason Reddick holdout ends, league schedule, predictions, odds

By Chad Graff, Peter Carline, Eduardo Tansley and Alex Andrejev

The Jacksonville Jaguars reversed their fortune in London, beating the Patriots 32-16 on Sunday at Wembley Stadium and handing New England its sixth straight loss.

Jacksonville (2-5) rebounded from last weekend’s loss to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and picked up its second win of the season behind quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s strong performance. After trailing 10-0 early, the Jaguars scored 25 unanswered points — with wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and running back Tank Bigsby contributing touchdowns in the second quarter — as the Patriots’ defense struggled.

New England rookie quarterback Drake Maye found wide receiver K.J. Osborn for a TD in the fourth quarter to close the gap to nine points, but the Patriots (1-6) missed the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt. The Jags then capped the day with another score by Bigsby in the final two minutes.

Patriots coach Jerod Mayo put it bluntly in his postgame news conference, saying, “We’re a soft football team across the board.”

Jerod Mayo on whether he’s sending a message to the Patriots by calling them soft.

Mayo: “Every time I talk to you guys I understand the players hear it.”

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) October 20, 2024

Patriots hit new low in another blowout

In a season of new rock bottoms, the Patriots found another one Sunday, dropping their sixth straight game since a surprising Week 1 win.

This was supposed to be the easiest game for them, a neutral site contest against a bad 1-5 Jaguars team that seemed on the verge of quitting on their coach. Instead, the Patriots got steamrolled once again.

Now four of the Patriots’ last five games have been blowout losses of more than 16 points with the only close game in that stretch being a five-point loss to a Miami Dolphins team on their third-string quarterback.

Everyone knew they had a bad roster before the season, but the thought was that an improved culture and collaborative coaching staff could yield a slightly better result than last year’s 4-13 campaign that cost Bill Belichick his job. Instead, the Patriots might be fortunate to get to four wins. — Chad Graff, Patriots beat writer

New England’s defensive woes continue

Even while acknowledging all of the losses they’ve had on defense, it’s amazing how far the defense has fallen in the first year without Belichick.

The Patriots thought this was going to be a top-10, maybe a top-five defense. Instead, they constantly get bullied. The Jaguars ran right up the middle over and over against the Patriots, whose defensive line can’t rush the passer or stop the run, and the linebackers aren’t any better.

Yes, it makes a meaningful difference that Ja’Whaun Bentley, Christian Barmore and Jabrill Peppers aren’t playing, but there’s still little excuse for a dropoff this severe.

After a mostly pedestrian season, Lawrence suddenly looked like an MVP against the Patriots’ secondary, while the Jags running game did pretty much anything it wanted. — Graff

Drake Maye does his job in second start

There were still a few throws that Maye will need to learn from, but it was another fine game for the rookie quarterback making his second start.

With the Patriots trailing by 15, Maye unlocked the deep ball, on one drive hitting Hunter Henry for 32 yards, Kayshon Boutte for 33 yards and tossing a 22-yard touchdown to Osborn.

Maye finished 26-of-37 passing for 276 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

He’s still just a rookie who will make mistakes, but it’s been an encouraging pair of starts from him, especially considering the offensive line in front of him and the weapons around him. — Graff

Jags turn it around in London

Lawrence bemoaned the team not playing complementary football after last week’s defeat to Chicago, but when it mattered most, Jacksonville put together its most complete quarter of the season.

As the clock ticked into the second quarter, the Jags were trailing 10-0, rocking on their heels and seemingly ready to implode. But Jacksonville scored two offensive touchdowns, Parker Washington added a third with a punt return TD — the longest ever in team history and the first ever seen in London — and there was even time for a bully boy two-point conversion. The Jaguars’ 22-point haul was the fourth-highest second-quarter tally in franchise history.

With the Patriots unable to stop Bigsby — who rushed for 114 yards off 26 carries and two TDs — and Lawrence looking like a franchise quarterback, (his 58-yard completion to Thomas was a highlight-reel moment) the turnaround was as complete as it was unexpected.

Equally significant was the rallying of the defense, who stood up big when it mattered. The unit gave up 118 yards in the first quarter, but restricted New England to 18 yards in the second.

All three elements turned the tide of the game — and showed that the team was not ready to quit this afternoon.

After back-to-back wins in London last season, the Jaguars split their overseas games this time. It means the return flight to Jacksonville is enjoyable rather than a funeral.

But there is still significant work to be done after clinching only a third win in the last 13 games. Eschewing a bye on their return to the U.S., Jacksonville has a testing stretch on the horizon, with games against Green Bay, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Detroit and Houston, the latter after a Week 12 bye.

Still, the victory means the Jaguars are 7-6 in England and the crowd of 86,651 was the highest in the history of the London games, which have taken place since 2007.

While this was nominally a Jacksonville home game, of note was the sheer number of Patriots fans, who cheered their team in numbers. — Peter Carline, London correspondent

Bigsby, Thomas Jr. boost Jags’ offense

With starting running back Travis Etienne Jr. out with a hamstring injury, Bigbsy picked up the workload on the ground and excelled. For the second time this season, he rushed for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns.

The 23-year-old had his worst game of the season last week against the Bears in London but bounced back, picking up the bulk of the carries, while D’Ernest Johnson tallied nine rushes.

Thomas, meanwhile, is shaping up to be one the most exciting rookie wide receivers the Jaguars have ever had and is lighting up their rookie records. Jacksonville’s No. 23 pick out of LSU had a highlight play again when he was left one-on-one and did not look back as Lawrence found him for a 58-yard gain.

He caught the Jaguars’ first touchdown, when they were up against it down 10-0, bringing the 22-year-old to four for the season. The rookie has taken the fewest games to reach 30 career receptions in Jaguars history and is the fastest to 500 receiving yards. Impressive. — Eduardo Tansley, London correspondent

Required reading

(Photo: Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)