Jaguars will have to duplicate effort vs. Patriots many more times to have playoff hopes

LONDON — For a period of 18 minutes, 49 seconds on Sunday, the underachieving Jacksonville Jaguars finally gave the NFL a glimpse of the AFC playoff contender many thought they’d be at their second home across the Atlantic.

Now, it’s a question of whether the Jaguars can find a way to bottle the best version of themselves in the coming weeks as they confront the toughest part of their schedule.

If the Jaguars have the faintest hope of salvaging a 2024 season that went off the rails in September, then the team that reeled off 25 consecutive points in a 32-16 victory over the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium must resurface repeatedly until the Week 12 bye.

Was Jacksonville perfect during that 25-point run — from early in the second quarter through the first series of the third quarter — that wiped out a 10-0 deficit?

The Jaguars were certainly close, especially considering how much they have underperformed or completely folded when facing adversity during five previous losses.

When have we ever seen a Trevor Lawrence-led offense put together successive touchdown drives this season, while the defense, in the same sequence, got an opponent off the field in three or four plays on back-to-back series?

Never. Not anything remotely close to that.

But that’s what transpired after the Jaguars spotted New England 10 points, no doubt making the NFL-record Wembley crowd of 86,651 wonder where this team has been all year.

“We’ve got to duplicate it,” said Jaguars’ head coach Doug Pederson. “We have to duplicate the energy. We have to duplicate what we did over here. ... We’ve got to carry this all the way back [to Jacksonville] and do it again.”

For a team that hasn’t won back-to-back games since right before and after last Thanksgiving, that figures to be no easy task.

Wembley wake-up call

What Parker Washington did to put a turbo-charge into the Jaguars’ 25-point ambush of the Patriots is something rarely seen at an NFL game.

Return specialists don’t normally field a punt at their own 4-yard-line. They usually let it bounce into the end zone for a touchback.

Instead, Washington proceeded to draw one of the most vocal reactions the Jaguars have ever elicited from a Wembley crowd. He cradled the punt, took off and quickly found himself in wide open space.

With each step Washington took on his way to a franchise-record 96-yard TD, the decibels from the crowd just got louder and louder.

“Just going into that play, I mean, I’m knowing that that punter was about to, he was booming them,” said Washington. “So, I knew he could outkick the coverage.

“I saw the opportunity, and I was, like, let’s be aggressive. It paid off, and I was glad to get that play.”

Before reaching midfield, he could see only Bryce Baringer was left between him and the end zone. The Patriots’ punter barely touched Washington on a diving tackle attempt, leaving the 2023 sixth-round draft pick to start planning his TD celebration over the last 20-25 yards.

As Washington got to the goal line, he turned around and fell backward into the end zone, just as the Penn State product had outlined it in a prior conversation with his family.

“Yeah, it was pretty much planned a little bit,” said Washington. “It was funny. I was out with my family [Saturday] joking around. I said, ‘If I score tomorrow, this is what we’re going to do.’ My auntie was, like, ‘I’m going to do it with you.’

“It was a special moment to see it happen in real time and speaking it into existence.”

Washington’s return was followed by a successful two-point conversrion after a Patriots penalty, giving the Jaguars a 22-10 halftime lead. Any hope New England had of regaining their lost momentum was shot.

“We were getting ready to go on offense and just all of a sudden, he just is going for, what was it, 95, 96-yard touchdown,” said receiver Brian Thomas Jr. “It was amazing. Everybody on the sidelines celebrating for him.”

Jaguars grades: Offense, defense, coaches get Bs, Special Teams earns A vs. Patriots

Striking right balance

For the last three quarters, the Jaguars’ offense unleashed a perfect formula to close out a game.

Coordinator Press Taylor, a favorite target to incur the wrath of Jaguars fans, took advantage of New England’s biggest weakness — its run defense — to play keep away.

Since the Patriots lost linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley for the season to a Week 2 pec injury, they have allowed 167.4 rushing yards per game. Once they seized the lead, the Jaguars took full advantage.

Jacksonville didn’t feel the absence of running back Travis Etienne because Tank Bigsby and D’Ernest Johnson just kept pounding at the belly of a soft Patriots defense. At one point, the Jaguars had 16 consecutive designed runs for 72 yards, eating up much of the second-half clock.

It’s almost always a guaranteed Jaguars victory when Lawrence throws the ball only 20 times for a robust 193 yards, while Jacksonville’s ground is eating up clock with 39 carries for 171 yards, led by Bigsby (26 attempt, 118 yards).

Lawrence’s arm was lethal in wiping away the Patriots’ 10-point lead. On back-to-back TD drives, he completed 6 of 7 passes for 114 yards, including an exquisite 58-yard bomb to Thomas down the middle of the field.

With cornerback Christian Gonzalez right on his shoulder, the rookie first-round draft pick snatched the ball, setting up a Bigsby 1-yard scoring run that gave the Jaguars the lead to stay.

“Brian did a great job of just running up the corner, keeping outside leverage, and just running with it,” said Lawrence. “I put it out there and let him go make a play.

“It was a great catch. He’s good at that.”

Defense isn’t good enough yet

It was no small comfort to Pederson that the Jaguars (2-5) could fly 4,259 miles back home without having to get swept in London.

A loss to the Patriots (1-6) would have almost sealed lame-duck status for the coaching staff and other employees, but Pederson’s team woke up just in time to keep a tiny sliver of hope alive for the 2024 season.

For once, the Jaguars didn’t let a rough start, including three offsides penalties on one New England scoring drive, evolve into a full-fledged disaster. They showed some grit instead of — to use safety Andre Cisco’s words last week — “a lot of quit” after the Chicago Bears routed them 35-16.

“We got in a situation where we were down 10, but nobody was like, ‘Here we go again,’ or defeated or had negative thoughts,” said Pederson. “It was just one play at a time. We’ll work ourselves back in it.

“We showed the complementary aspect of the game today in all three phases. That’s the spark that can hopefully get this thing going.”

There might be just one little hang-up: the Jaguars’ defense remains a liability.

Its suspect pass coverage was slightly better, yet it still allowed rookie quarterback Drake Maye to throw for 276 yards and two TDs, with a 109.7 rating, in just his second NFL start.

Which begs this question: how is Ryan Nielsen’s unit going to hold up against the Jaguars’ next four opponents, all of whom have offenses far more potent than New England.

The Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions currently have a combined record of 19-6. They also have top-10 scoring offenses and quarterbacks (Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts, a rejuvenated Sam Darnold and Jared Goff) capable of putting up huge numbers, though Hurts runs hot and cold.

The hole may only get bigger

The reality is the Jaguars, after gaining ground on the first-place Houston Texans (5-2) for the first time this season, are still pushing a 1,000-pound boulder uphill in terms of getting back in playoff contention.

Four AFC non-division leaders have winning records, and all of them have two less losses within the conference.

But at least the Jaguars went home feeling a little better about themselves, even if its latest victim is on a six-game losing streak.

“I mean, maybe it sounds bad, but just stop the bleeding for us,” Lawrence said. “Just get on track. We have to find some momentum, and we have to start rattling off some wins. That’s always the mindset, but especially where we’re at now.

“We don’t have any more time to waste. Put ourselves in a little bit of a hole.”

Looking at the quality of the next four opponents, the Jaguars better find a higher gear of football or that hole will feel like Death Valley by Thanksgiving.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com : (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars will have to duplicate effort vs. Patriots many more times to have playoff hopes