The Jaguars didn’t just beat the Patriots on Sunday. They rolled them, 35-6, and looked like a team that had no interest in letting last week’s loss to the Broncos linger any longer than necessary.
At EverBank Stadium, Jacksonville answered the bell in a big way, forced three turnovers, and handled New England with relative ease to move to 2-1. For a team that entered the week trying to steady itself after Denver, this was the kind of response that clears out a lot of noise. The Jaguars looked sharper, stronger, and a whole lot more complete than the Patriots, who had been widely ranked ahead of them in AFC straw polls before the season.
Travis Hunter was right in the middle of that turnaround. Jacksonville wanted more from him this week, and he delivered one of the game’s biggest moments with a red-zone interception of Drake Maye just before halftime.
That play kept the Patriots from trimming into the lead and changing the feel of the game before the break. The Jaguars have not seemed especially worried about Hunter’s development, even with this being only the 10th game of his NFL career, but Sunday felt like the kind of performance that can settle some of the pressure around him.
Parker Washington also kept making life easier on the Jaguars’ offense, even without the huge target volume he’s seen lately. When Jacksonville needed someone to win a matchup, he kept showing up.
Washington hauled in two stunning touchdown catches on back-to-back plays, though one was wiped out by a penalty. The next one counted, and it was one of the best catches of his career.
He has been too valuable to this offense early in the season, and games like this only strengthen the case that Jacksonville has to keep him around.
DaVon Hamilton was every bit the problem the Jaguars needed him to be against a Patriots team that wanted to get under center and run the ball. He turned in what might have been the best game of his career, with a fumble recovery, a sack, a should-have-been forced fumble on Drake Maye, and several key run stops.
Hamilton has kept getting better year after year, and now he looks like one of the league’s best nose tackles. He was a true game wrecker on Sunday.
Josh Cameron added another encouraging chapter to his early season, too. After scoring a touchdown in his NFL debut in Week 1, he found the end zone again on a 12-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to put Jacksonville up 7-0.
Cameron has quickly become a real red-zone option for the Jaguars, and the reason he keeps getting on the field is simple: trust. He had a strange semi-drop on the opening drive, but the Jaguars and Lawrence clearly believe in the rookie, and he has given them little reason not to.
There were still some issues on the defensive side, though, especially in the passing game. Jacksonville allowed too many explosive plays, even with A.J.
Brown not playing for New England. Last week against Denver, the concern was coverage.
This time, the pass rush seemed to be the bigger problem. The Jaguars had only three quarterback hits through three quarters before the Patriots were forced into more throwing, and two of those hits came from Foyesade Oluokun.
The other was Ruke Orhororo’s sack, which only went for a yard.
New England tried to slow Jacksonville’s edge rush with chips and heavy formations, and the Jaguars answered with a heavy blitz approach of their own. Even so, it didn’t feel like they consistently disrupted Maye, and a lot of his negative plays seemed to come more from his own mistakes than from pressure the Jaguars created.
In Other News...
Trevor Lawrence Gave Jaguars Fans One Strange Moment To Debate
Trevor Lawrences strong Sunday helped the Jaguars put the Patriots away in a 35-6 rout, with the quarterback finishing 19 of 29 for 182 yards and three touchdowns. Jacksonville had control for most of the afternoon, and New England never found much rhythm as Drake Mayes turnovers piled up in a difficult start to the season.
Still, the most debated moment may have come late, when Lawrence dropped to a knee at the 1-yard line and left plenty of fans trying to figure out the logic behind it. The Jaguars were long past needing style points, but the decision created a strange little postgame discussion anyway, one that stood out almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Hines-Allen Sideline Scuffle Took A Strange Jaguars Turn
Travis Hunters first career interception was supposed to be the headline from Sunday, but the scene around it quickly turned into something else. On the sideline, Josh Hines-Allen got caught in a brief scuffle over the football, with the moment featuring a tug-of-war and a shove as the plays souvenir became the center of attention.
Liam Coen said the situation appears to be resolved, but the oddest part still hangs out there: even the person on the other end of the exchange has not been clearly identified by either team. An unconfirmed report from TMZ Sports suggested the individual may have been with the Patriots rather than the Jaguars, which only adds another layer to a strange post-interception sequence that left more questions than answers. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Little Just Reminded Jaguars Fans What Might Be Coming
Cam Little gave Jaguars fans a quick reminder of just how far his range can stretch when he sent up a 70-yard field goal try against the New England Patriots. It came up just short, but the attempt itself was eye-catching in its own right, especially coming from the kicker who already owns the NFL record for the longest field goal at 68 yards.
The miss did not change the bigger picture around Little, who has already shown he belongs in rare territory for leg strength. With a new NFL rule about kicking footballs also in the mix, the possibility of even longer field goals is suddenly part of the conversation, and Jacksonville has a front-row seat to whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]