The Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5) came to play on Sunday against the New England Patriots (1-6) at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
After a dreadful 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears a week prior in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Jaguars played as though they took the loss — and the aftermath of the loss — personally with a 32-16 win over the Patriots.
GET CAUGHT UP: Jaguars beat Patriots in London
Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby was the star of the day rushing for 118 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries in place of starting RB Travis Etienne, who was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence kick-started the team's offense early, completing 9 of 10 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
Lawrence finished with an efficient 15 of 20 completed passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.
Lawrence's efforts gave the Jaguars a 22-10 lead at halftime, and the team never looked back.
It didn't look pretty early for the Jaguars, but they made up for it quickly.
After starting the game with stagnation on both sides of the ball, the Jaguars came storming back with 22 unanswered points during the second quarter against the Patriots.
According to ESPN's Mike DiRocco , Jacksonville's 22 first-half points were the most in a first half for Jacksonville since Week 15 of the 2017 season vs. the Houston Texans (31 points in the first half, defeating Texans 45-7).
The 22 points scored in the second quarter for Jacksonville was the fourth-highest point total in the second quarter in team history.
Jacksonville's defense woke up after a rough start, too. After allowing eight first downs, 4 for 4 on third down and 118 total net yards to the Patriots in the first quarter, they limited New England to a total of 295 net yards, 6 of 12 on third down, 38 net yards rushing, and 257 net yards passing.
Jacksonville's defense forced the Patriots to punt on four straight possessions in the second quarter, bleeding into the third quarter of Sunday's game.
Tank Bigsby steals the show with second 100-yard performance of season
When the Jaguars needed to eat the clock up in the second half after taking a 25-10 lead early in the third quarter, they turned to Bigsby.
Bigsby was featured in Sunday's game against the Patriots, alongside fellow backup D'Ernest Johnson, with Etienne out.
Bigsby, Johnson and Lawrence contributed to a 17-play stretch of runs centered on Bigsby's legs during the third and fourth quarters of the contest to eat up 11 minutes of the game to end the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter.
Jacksonville's offense finished the game with 171 total net yards rushing, the most for the franchise this season.
Jaguars defense looks disinterested, offense falters in first quarter vs. Patriots
Nothing went right for the Jaguars in the first quarter against the Patriots.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye began the game by completing 6 of 7 passes for 62 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown to former Jaguars running back JaMycal Hasty. The Jaguars got home against Maye once but couldn't keep him corralled.
Maye added two carries for 17 yards, including a 15-yard scramble on third and four on the team's second drive.
Jacksonville's defense gave up 118 total net yards, including 82 passing and 36 rushing against the Patriots in the first quarter.
During the first quarter and early portion of the second quarter, the Jaguars were called for offside penalties three times, including two from defensive end Josh Hines-Allen and one from rookie defensive tackle Jordan Jefferson.
Offensively, the Jaguars couldn't extend their opening drive. Lawrence completed all three of his passes for 21 yards with tight end Evan Engram coming down with two catches for 21 yards. Backup running back D'Ernest Johnson caught one pass for zero yards on third down to force Jacksonville to punt.
Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr. connect to give Jaguars momentum in historical second quarter
After a lackluster start on offense, the Jaguars stormed back in the second quarter of the game with back-to-back touchdown drives and a punt return touchdown for good measure, giving the team 22 unanswered points against the Patriots.
The run began on the team's second drive of the game when Lawrence connected with rookie wideout Brian Thomas Jr. on a seven-yard touchdown. Lawrence finished the drive 3 of 4 for 44 yards and a touchdown.
However, the Jaguars did suffer one loss. Left tackle Cam Robinson came out of the game and was checked for a concussion , and ruled out for the rest of the contest.
On the second drive of the game, Lawrence found Thomas again. This time, the fourth-year QB dropped back on 2nd-and-7 from his 21-yard line and threw a 58-yard strike to Thomas over Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Jacksonville used backup running back Tank Bigsby for much of the drive, giving him three carries for 18 yards and a one-yard touchdown.
The score gave Jacksonville a 14-10 lead.
Lawrence ended the first half completing 9 of 10 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. Lawrence's lone first-half completion came on a throwaway after the Patriots sent a blitz.
Parker Washington sets franchise record with 96-yard punt return touchdown vs. Patriots
Jacksonville's run didn't stop on offense in the second quarter.
After forcing the Patriots to go three-and-out on their third drive of the game, Jaguars receiver and punt returner Parker Washington took a Patriots punt 96 yards for a touchdown, nearly untouched.
Washington's punt return touchdown was the longest in franchise history and gave Jacksonville a 22-10 lead entering halftime after Pederson opted to go for two following an offsides penalty by New England.
Washington's touchdown marked the first in London Games history at either Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or Wembley Stadium, according to Jaguars PR.
Doug Pederson's job should be safe for now
After a 1-5 start and an embarrassing loss during the first leg of the team's London trip, the conversation surrounding Pederson's job security fired up.
Talk of the team showing " quit, " culture changes, fragility and fire-sale trades became the narrative in the week leading up to Sunday's game against the Patriots.
Their blowout victory should pause that talk for at least another week. The team returns to Jacksonville to face off against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8 with everything on the line after a 2-6 start.
Though the win against the Patriots was impressive, Pederson will still need to rally his team over the next several weeks to get off the hot seat. Jaguars owner Shad Khan declared before the season that "winning now" is the expectation and reiterated that in a sit-down interview with the Times-Union ahead of the team's game at Tottenham last week in London.
That mood hasn't changed, but Pederson's job after their London Games series should last at least a week longer.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars feature Bigsby, run game to beat New England Patriots 32-16 in London
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