The Patriots and Jaguars are back in the same building as their Week 7 meeting at Wembley Stadium in London from the 2024 regular season feels like it happened in another era. In reality, it wasn’t that long ago. But both teams look very different now, even with the same quarterbacks still steering the offense.
New England’s turnaround has been the louder one. After hiring Mike Vrabel following the 2024 campaign, the Patriots surged to a 14-3 regular season in 2025 and reached Super Bowl LX.
Drake Maye was right in the middle of it, too, finishing second in MVP voting behind Matthew Stafford. Jacksonville made its own leap after bringing in Liam Coen that same offseason, riding that move to a 13-4 finish and an AFC South title.
Trevor Lawrence put together one of the best seasons of his career under Coen.
Now both teams are trying to build on that momentum in Week 3, with each sitting at 1-1 and chasing a second win in Duval County.
There are plenty of angles in this AFC matchup, but the biggest one may be whether Jacksonville can crack a New England defense that has been suffocating through two weeks. The Patriots have allowed just 8.0 points per game, the fewest in the league.
They also own the NFL’s best third-down defense at 17% and have yet to give up a red zone touchdown. That is a brutal setup for Lawrence, especially after his rough showing against Denver, when he completed 58.6% of his passes for 189 yards and an interception.
When pressured last week, he went 2-of-9 for 36 yards and an interception. New England brought heat on Aaron Rodgers in Week 2, and if that pressure shows up again, Lawrence will have to handle it better.
Another storyline worth tracking is Travis Hunter’s usage. The promise in Jacksonville was a true two-way player, something this league hasn’t really seen in this era.
So far, though, that hasn’t taken shape. Hunter has mostly worked on defense at corner, playing 31% of defensive snaps, while his offensive workload has been just 5.5% of snaps.
That’s a far cry from last year, when he played 43.6% of offensive snaps at receiver and 22.0% on defense. Whether that balance shifts Sunday will be one of the more interesting things to watch.
On the other side, Maye needs to clean things up. He has already thrown four interceptions through the first two weeks of the 2026 season.
Stretch that back to the start of last postseason, and he has 12 total turnovers in six games. That’s the kind of number that can put a ceiling on an offense fast, and it’s the kind of trend New England can’t afford to carry into EverBank Stadium.
One of the sharper individual battles in Week 3 comes on the perimeter, where Christian Gonzalez and Parker Washington are set to go head-to-head. Gonzalez, who became the NFL’s highest-paid corner just before the season, already has four pass breakups, tied for the most in the league.
He has also allowed just 33% of the targets thrown his way to be completed, which leads the NFL. Washington has been just as productive on the other side, catching 12 of 18 targets for 181 yards and a touchdown.
This should be tight. The Patriots have been strong on the road under Vrabel, going 8-1 straight up away from home, and the Jaguars have been just as reliable as favorites under Coen at 9-0 straight up.
New England’s offensive line is a major variable after right guard Mike Onwenu suffered a season-ending ankle injury last week. Greg Van Roten is expected to step in, and that side could become a problem if Jacksonville gets after Maye.
Josh Hines-Allen didn’t record a pressure last week, so he should be hungry to change that in Week 3.
In the end, the edge goes to Jacksonville at home, but New England should keep it close.
In Other News...
Jaguars May Need A Trade To Fix This Defensive Problem
The Jaguars have already started circling a clear defensive need early in the season: more disruption from the interior of the line. With the pass rush sometimes forced to come from the edges, the middle of the defense has become an area worth monitoring, especially as the schedule starts to bring more tests that can expose a front that cannot consistently collapse the pocket from inside.
Bobby Brown, Moro Ojomo and Karl Brooks have all surfaced as possible trade options because each would address that issue in a different way, depending on fit and contract situation. For Jacksonville, the question is whether the right answer is already in the building or whether this is the kind of roster hole that pushes a team toward the trade market before the season gets any deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Face An Early Worry That Could Define Week 3
The Week 3 matchup with New England comes with the kind of early-season hinge that can shape how the Jaguars are viewed moving forward. In a staff roundtable preview, the conversation centered on the players most likely to swing the game, with Patriots defensive lineman Christian Barmore and Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. drawing particular attention as potential difference-makers in a matchup built around pressure, timing and execution.
For Jacksonville, the concern is less about the broad outline of the opponent and more about how one or two individual battles could tilt the afternoon. Thomas is part of what the Jaguars need to function cleanly on offense, while Barmore represents the sort of disruptive force that can complicate everything for a quarterback and line trying to settle in early. The result is a game preview that feels less like a standard September check-in and more like an early test of how sturdy Jacksonville really is. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Face A Bigger Week 3 Question Than Just Beating Patriots
Week 3 brings the Jaguars a familiar kind of test against the Patriots, but the bigger subplot is how Jacksonville keeps sorting out its own identity on both sides of the ball. Bhayshul Tuten has started to look like more than a change-of-pace option, giving the offense a dynamic rushing element, while Parker Washington has continued to provide steady production in the passing game. Defensively, DaVon Hamilton remains an important presence up front even as he deals with a back issue, and Ventrell Miller has emerged as the teams leading weak side linebacker.
Grant Udinski has already talked about Tutens development, which makes the rookies role one of the more interesting pieces to watch as the Jaguars head into this stretch. The Patriots will be the opponent on the schedule, but Jacksonvilles real question is whether these individual gains start to add up into a more complete week-to-week formula, especially with key contributors like Hamilton and Miller carrying bigger responsibility than they might have expected this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]