JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars gave the home crowd a perfect going-away present.
Jacksonville cleared up its mistakes from a week earlier and dominated the Patriots 35-6 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at EverBank Stadium. It’s the final game at home until November for the Jaguars (2-1), and it was about as good as it gets in knocking around a New England team that played in the Super Bowl last season.
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One week after a meltdown against the Broncos, the Jaguars were solid throwing the ball and running it. They were even better at squeezing the will out of New England by halftime with an end-zone interception by Travis Hunter. Hunter’s pick was one of three takeaways by the defense as it battered Drake Maye from start to finish and sent him to the bench for Tommy DeVito down 29 points.
Trevor Lawrence had three touchdown passes and took a knee at the 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter to break the hearts of fantasy owners. Bhayshul Tuten punched it in one play later for a 35-6 lead.
Offense plays much better
The ground game has found its No. 1 back in Tuten, with free agent signee Chris Rodriguez a nice change of pace back in the offense. Tuten has given Jacksonville better-than-average running and ample pass-catching ability at a fraction of the cost it would have taken to keep Travis Etienne.
Tuten’s best catch against New England came as Lawrence was being dragged down by Gabe Jacas. Lawrence got the ball to Tuten, who stretched it into a 15-yard play in the third quarter.
Lawrence’s lone stat sheet blemish was a pass that went off Brenton Strange’s hands and was intercepted by Marcus Jones. New England turned that into a field goal to slice the deficit to 7-3.
Lawrence bounced back from the tipped interception with a nine-play, 65-yard march that ended with another strike over the middle, this one a 10-yard touchdown to Jakobi Meyers. Lawrence has been picked off twice this year, but his interception Sunday wasn’t on him.
Lawrence remains playing the best football of his career. He had touchdown passes to rookie Josh Cameron, Jakobi Meyers, and Parker Washington, who made a diving 17-yard grab late in the third quarter for a 21-3 lead.
The defense plays well again
Jacksonville lost 20-13 against the Broncos but did well in several areas before running out of gas. There were few to no lapses against New England. The pass rush remains a work in progress, but the Jaguars cleaned up some holes that the Denver loss revealed.
Buster Brown was shredded a week earlier by Jaylen Waddle, but he trimmed up the soft coverage and played much better against the Patriots. Jacksonville was also in a better position to harass Maye throughout the game and take advantage of his shaky start this season.
DaVon Hamilton recovered a fumble in the opening quarter as the ball slipped from Maye’s hand on a pass attempt. That takeaway led to the first points of the game on Lawrence’s touchdown pass to Cameron, a 12-yard strike straight down the middle of the field. It was Cameron’s second touchdown catch of the season.
Jarrian Jones had his first interception of the season after Lawrence’s touchdown pass to Washington, running it back to the New England 5. Rodriguez scored one play later to go in front 28-3.
Hunter interception is huge
With New England in position for points of some kind at the Jacksonville 2, the defense came up huge again. Maye locked on to Efton Chism III along the back line of the end zone. Instead, Hunter jumped in front of the pass and picked it off. It was the second end zone interception in the last two games for the Jaguars. Jourdan Lewis made a leaping pick of Bo Nix last week.
For Hunter, the takeaway was his first and came during a stretch where the outside noise had reached its peak. Hunter’s usage on both sides of the ball has been questioned across the league. Jacksonville made a seismic draft-night trade last year to move up to No. 2 and select Hunter, the two-way Heisman Trophy unicorn from Colorado. His season ended after seven games last year due to a knee injury. His college coach, Deion Sanders, has said on multiple occasions that Hunter was being underutilized by the Jaguars.
His offensive output didn’t increase against New England, but Hunter finally flashed that defensive ability.
Jacksonville’s starting stretch
Weeks 2 through 6 are perhaps the most challenging of the season for Jacksonville. They faced last year’s AFC No. 1 (Broncos) and 2 (Patriots) seeds in back-to-back weeks. They visit the Bengals and Joe Burrow in Week 4, the Eagles in London in Week 5, and the Texans in London for their annual Wembley Stadium home game in Week 6. Jacksonville’s next home game is Nov. 1 against the Colts.
