On a bright October 20, 2024 morning at Wembley Stadium, 86,651 fans watched two clubs aiming to change their seasons. New England had dropped five straight and sat at 1-5. Jacksonville, equally anxious at 1-5, hoped a trip across the Atlantic could spark a revival. By the final whistle the Jaguars had done exactly that, turning an early 10-0 deficit into a 32-16 victory powered by a dominant ground attack, big-play special teams, and a defense that stiffened after the opening quarter.

Scoreboard snapshot

Quarter	Patriots	Jaguars
1	7	0
2	3	22
3	0	3
4	6	7
Total	16	32

The avalanche in the second period—22 straight Jaguar points—flipped the afternoon and set the Patriots chasing the game from then on.

Big picture team stats

• Total yards: Jaguars 364, Patriots 295
• Rushing yards: Jaguars 171 on 39 carries (4.4 ypc), Patriots 38 on 15 carries (2.5 ypc)
• Passing yards: Patriots 257, Jaguars 193
• Plays / yards per play: Jaguars 59 / 6.2 yp, Patriots 54 / 5.5 yp
• Time of possession: Jaguars 33:15, Patriots 26:45
• Turnovers: None—clean game on both sides
• Penalties: Patriots 7 for 35 yds, Jaguars 4 for 24 yds

Those raw numbers underline the story: Jacksonville controlled the clock and the line of scrimmage, while New England lived off an accurate arm but almost no running push.

Quarterback comparison

Drake Maye (Patriots)

• 26 completions on 37 attempts
• 276 yards (7.5 per attempt)
• 2 touchdowns, 0 picks
• 2 sacks for −19 yards
• 109.7 passer rating

The rookie looked poised, spraying the ball to nine different targets. His first-drive 16-yard strike to Jamycal Hasty quieted Wembley, and a fourth-quarter 22-yard laser to K.J. Osborn kept faint hopes alive. Maye’s day, however, was undercut by a non-existent ground game that forced him to shoulder everything.

Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars)

• 15 completions on 20 attempts
• 193 yards (9.6 per attempt)
• 1 touchdown, 0 picks
• 0 sacks
• 121.5 passer rating

Lawrence didn’t need volume. He thrived on efficiency—high-percentage throws off play-action, quick RPO-style slants, and a 58-yard rainbow to rookie Brian Thomas Jr. that flipped field position and momentum in the second quarter.

Ground rules: the rushing battle

Runner	Team	Carries	Yards	Avg	TD
Tank Bigsby	JAX	26	118	4.5	2
D’Ernest Johnson	JAX	9	38	4.2	0
Rhamondre Stevenson	NE	7	18	2.6	0
Drake Maye (scrambles)	NE	3	18	6.0	0

Bigsby’s patient cuts shredded arm-tackles, especially on outside-zone calls behind rookie left guard Cooper Beebe. His one-yard plunge tied the game, and his four-yard dagger inside the two-minute warning sealed it. New England’s front, minus injured nose tackle Davon Godchaux, rarely reset the line. Conversely, Jacksonville’s defense limited Stevenson to just one double-digit gain all day.

Pass-catchers in focus

Patriots

• Hunter Henry: 8 grabs, 92 yards—worked the seams and soft zones in Cover-3 looks.
• Jamycal Hasty: 5-49, 1 TD—swing passes and screens, plus the opening score.
• Kayshon Boutte: 1-33—deep post in the third quarter set up red-zone field-position.
• K.J. Osborn: 2-26, 1 TD—late crossing route from a condensed stack.

Jaguars

• Brian Thomas Jr.: 5-89, 1 TD—showed speed on the 58-yard go route, plus quick-outs that punished off coverage.
• Evan Engram: 5-35—safety valve curls, kept drives alive twice on third-and-short.
• Christian Kirk / Gabriel Davis combined: 2-37—quiet statistically, but each cleared safety help for Thomas with vertical stems.

Special teams swing

If the contest had a single flashpoint, it was Parker Washington’s 96-yard punt return with 1:34 left in the first half. The rookie drifted, cut right behind a wall, and accelerated untouched down the sideline—longest punt return in Wembley’s NFL history. The Jaguars added a quirky two-point pass from Lawrence to Thomas, swelling the surge to 22-10. Patriots gunner Brenden Schooler whiffed on the edge, while Joe Cardona’s snap angle forced a low trajectory punt—fine margins that changed the scoreboard in seconds.

Cam Little drilled field goals from 21 and 32 yards and hit all four extra-points, perfect in European debut. Joey Slye answered with a 41-yarder but shanked a 48-yard try wide left late in the third, a miss that left the deficit at two scores.

Defensive storylines

• No sacks allowed on Lawrence; two surrendered by New England’s line. Josh Uche and Matthew Judon created flashes early yet stalled as Jacksonville adjusted protections, sliding center Luke Fortner to chip inside rush lanes.
• Run fits decide matters. Linebacker Devin Lloyd led Jacksonville with 10 total tackles, closing backside cut-backs from Stevenson. On the other sideline, Ja’Whaun Bentley posted eight stops but too many came seven yards downfield.
• Takeaway drought continues. Both squads finished with zero turnovers. For the Patriots it was the fourth straight game without an interception or fumble recovery, a worrying trend for a defense built on ball-hawking DNA.
  Although granular tackle charts weren’t dazzling, the eye test and postgame grades showed Jaguars noses soaking up double-teams, allowing free hitters at the second level.

Turning points by drive

1. Patriots strike first (1Q 8:32) – Maye sells play-action, lofts to Hasty in the left flat. Quick 7-0.
2. Field-goal cushion (2Q 13:31) – 41-yard Slye kick pushes the gap to 10-0. New England has run 24 plays to Jacksonville’s 6.
3. Thomas touchdown (2Q 9:21) – Lawrence answers with a smooth 6-yard slant, capping an 8-play, 68-yard march.
4. Bigsby bulldozes (2Q 3:32) – One-yard plunge behind RG Brandon Scherff puts JAX ahead 14-10.
5. Washington fireworks (2Q 1:34) – The punt return + two-pointer swings momentum permanently, 22-10 Jaguars.
6. Little adds three (3Q 9:42) – A patient 12-play drive stalls, but the lead stretches to two scores.
7. Osborn breathes life (4Q 8:22) – 22-yard TD but two-point pass fails: 25-16.
8. Bigsby icing (4Q 1:41) – Four-yard TD caps a grinding 10-play, 68-yard possession, erasing comeback hopes.

What New England tried—and why it didn’t stick

• Pass first, pass always. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt kept the ball in Maye’s hands; their first nine called runs gained just 15 yards. Without threat of inside power, Jacksonville narrowed split safety shells, daring deep shots only on clear passing downs.
• Edge contain struggles. Outside linebackers were sealed on crack-toss and jet-motion looks; Bigsby’s longest jaunt (13 yards) came on a counter trey where Uche lost leverage.
• Special teams lapses. Poor punt placement and coverage discipline negated Maye’s efficient afternoon. With no turnovers forced, the margin for such errors was tiny.

Why Jacksonville’s blueprint worked

• Keep the ball: 33-plus minutes of possession kept a promising rookie passer on the bench.
• Marry run and pass: Lawrence recorded only 20 attempts, but half came off play-action, each mirroring the zone-run look Bigsby hammered all game.
• Hidden yards: Only three drives began inside Jacksonville’s 20. Washington’s return plus a 34-yard D’Ernest Johnson kick return juiced field position.
• No negative plays: Zero sacks, zero turnovers, and just four flags conserved downs and dissolved New England’s pass-rush rhythm.

Unsung heroes

• Luke Fortner (C, Jaguars) – Directed pass-pro slides that stoned Judon in the second half.
• Jaime Poteet (ST coach, Jaguars) – Diagrammed the punt-return wall that sprung Washington; film shows three perfectly timed kick-out blocks.
• Austin Hooper (TE, Patriots) – Four catches for 32 yards, each converting second-and-medium, though easily forgotten in the loss.

Quotes of the day

Doug Pederson: “We stayed patient. When you lean on the run like that, good things stack up.”
Jerod Mayo: “Our front has to win earlier downs. If you give up 4-plus a carry, everything else is an uphill climb.”

Where they stand and what’s next

Jacksonville improved to 2-5, still staring up at Houston and Tennessee in the AFC South but gaining a fresh dose of belief before a Week-8 bye. They’ll host the Colts afterward, and if the ground game travels back across the Atlantic, any talk of a lost season could cool quickly. New England slipped to 1-6, returning home for a divisional clash with the Jets. The Patriots haven’t dropped seven of their first eight since 1993; rediscovering even a modest rushing presence is priority one.

Final Word

Sometimes football is as simple as “run it until they stop it.” Jacksonville pounded that message play after play, and New England never found an answer. Mix in a record-setting punt return and spotless special-teams execution, and the Jaguars turned Wembley into their personal springboard. For the Patriots, Maye’s poise remains a silver lining, but until the front five fires off the ball with conviction, he’ll keep throwing under the weight of the whole offense. Numbers rarely lie, and on this London afternoon every major stat leaned teal and gold.