THE Jacksonville Jaguars earned a vital 32-16 victory over the New England Patriots in front of a record crowd of 86,651 people at Wembley Stadium to conclude the NFLThe 2024 trilogy of London games.
Both opponents were in desperate need of a win, with identical 1-5 records to start their seasons, leaving them at the bottom of their respective divisions.
New England struck first, silencing hosts Jacksonville in the first quarter before the Jags exploded in the second, scoring 22 unanswered points, including Parker Washington’s 97-yard punt return for the longest touchdown in NFL international game history.
The hosts added three more in the third and while New England briefly closed the gap in the fourth, they saw their chances slip away when Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby crossed late in the quarter for his second touchdown.
Eyes were on Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who made his second NFL start and completed 26 of 37 pass attempts, throwing for 276 yards, including two touchdowns.
Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew into the game, completing 15 of 20 pass attempts and throwing for 193 yards, including a touchdown.
Jacksonville won the coin toss and elected to defend first in soggy conditions, and New England struck first with 8:32 left in the first quarter with its first opening touchdown of the season.
Maye’s short pass found JaMycal Hasty on the right and the running back danced around the Jacksonville defense before scoring the 16-yard touchdown, with Joey Slye adding the extra point.
New England increased its lead less than 90 seconds into the second quarter on Slye’s successful 41-yard field goal attempt to make it 10-0 for the visitors on their second possession of the game.
Jacksonville started to gain some momentum, but made things more difficult for itself when Lawrence fumbled a pass on first-and-7.
The Jags gained only one yard on the next down, but Lawrence made up for his earlier mistake on third down, successfully picking off wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr, who caught the ball in the end zone with 9:25 to play. quarter, Cam Little in conversion.
The Patriots were forced to punt on their next possession before Jacksonville took an early lead on the next drive, thanks in large part to a brilliant 58-yard pass from their quarterback to find Thomas.
The Jaguars took a 14-10 lead when Bigsby scored his third rushing touchdown of the season, with Little again good for the extra point.
The momentum had swung in favor of the hosts and they cushioned their lead in spectacular fashion.
Wide receiver Washington made it 20-10 with a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown – the longest in Jaguars and NFL international history.
Jacksonville opted to attempt a two-point conversion after the Patriots were assessed an offside penalty, with Thomas collecting extras from his quarterback’s pass to send his team into halftime with a 2-point advantage. 12 points.
They might have wanted more from their first drive to start the third quarter, failing to score a touchdown after two short incomplete passes from Lawrence and settling for a 21-yard field goal from Little to make it 25-10.
Jacksonville’s 15-point advantage remained intact as the sun rose for the final 15 minutes and the Patriots looked to brighten their afternoon.
They cut the lead to nine points on Maye’s 22-yard touchdown pass to KJ Osborn to make it 25-16 with 8:27 left in the quarter, but were unable to execute their two-point conversion attempt.
Bigsby’s four-yard touchdown run with 1:45 remaining, with Little converting, condemned New England to a discouraging sixth straight loss.
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