Jacksonville Jaguars, Tank Bigsby, play ground and pound in second half to beat New England

With two-time 1,000-yard rusher Travis Etienne on the bench with a hamstring injury, it was time for the Tank to roll.

Jacksonville Jaguars second-year running back Tank Bigsby ran for a career-high 118 yards on 26 carries -- 79 of them in the second half -- and scored twice to lead the Jaguars to a 32-16 victory over the New England Patriots at London's Wembley Stadium.

It was Bigsby's second 100-yard effort in the last three games and he doubled his season total of touchdowns to four. Bigsby has 415 yards rushing to solidify his team lead and he's averaging 6.2 yards per carry.

Bigsby said it was a matter of staying patient. He had eight carries for 39 yards in the first half and 18 for 87 in the second half.

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"I got in a rhythm, stayed calm, stayed patient and took advantage of the opportunities," he said during his post-game news conference. "I will do whatever I have to, to help his team win. I tried to stay patient,, be positive and when the opportunity came, execute at a high level."

Doug Pederson said Tank Bigsby has worked for his chance

Bigsby has gotten more carries this season after working hard in the off-season and training camp on ball security issues that plagued his rookie season. That he stepped in to be the feature back was no surprise to Jaguars coach Doug Pederson .

"Tank has earned the right to be out there," Pederson said during his post-game news conference. "He did a nice job today, ran hard, ran tough, ran behind his pads. The offensive line and tight ends did a great job [blocking] for him."

Bigsby was the star of the game but D'Ernest Johnson contributed 38 yards and averaged 4.2 per carry and also caught three passes for 32 yards.

And the Jaguars apparently love running the ball at Wembley. Their 171 yards as a team was the most since 196 yards in a 25-20 victory over Buffalo on Oct. 8, 2023, a game also played at the iconic London landmark.

Offensive line was without Cam Robinson

The Jags dominated with the run despite the loss of left tackle Cam Robinson in the second quarter when he was taken out with a possible concussion.

Walker Little replaced him and did a commendable job, especially on several Bigsby and Johnson runs to the left side. The line also kept quarterback Trevor Lawrence (15 of 20, 193 yards, 121.5 passer rating) upright, with no sacks and no quarterback hits. It's the second game in the last three weeks that Lawrence has been untouched on pass attempts.

Jaguars had an NFL-high in second half

Once the Jaguars took a 22-10 halftime lead and extended it to 25-10, they went to the ground nearly exclusively to not only burn time off the block but exploit a New England rushing defense that entering the game 19th in the league.

Starting with an 11-yard run by Lawrence that converted a third-and-eight late in the third quarter, the Jaguars ran the ball 17 consecutive plays, the longest streak in the NFL this season.

The Jaguars went 22:26 of game time without throwing a pass, from 3:28 left in the third period to 4:05 left in the game.

During that 17-play stretch, Bigsby had 11 carries for 53 yards. The Jaguars controlled the ball for 21:19 in the second half to 8:41 for the Patriots, after a first quarter in which New England had the ball for all but 3:30 in taking a 10-0 lead.

"This was a time of adversity and adversity shows character," Bigsby said of the team's struggles this season. "It shows who you can be and who you are. This team showed who we can be with our backs against the wall, so let's keep going."

Jaguars played better in short-yardage

Despite Bigsby getting stopped on fourth-and-one at the New England 6 with 11:10 left in the game, the Jaguars were solid in short-yardage, an improvement from past games.

The Jags converted six of seven running plays in which they had 4 yards or less to go for a first down or a touchdown, including both of Bigsby's scores (from 1 and 4 yards).

Lawrence converted a third-and-one on quarterback sneak and Johnson got into the act with a hard 3-yard run on second-and-one. The Jaguars made first downs on three of four third- or fourth-down and short situations.

That helped the Jaguars convert 6 of 10 third downs overall, a season-best 60 percent. The Jaguars had not done better than 46.7 percent (last week against Chicago, 7 of 15) and entered the game converting only 30.4 percent for the season.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars, Tank Bigsby, play ground and pound in second half to beat New England