The Jaguars didn’t need Trevor Lawrence to throw for 400 yards. They didn’t need Brian Thomas Jr. to take over the game. They didn’t even need to pile up more yards than New England.

They beat the defending AFC champions 35–6 anyway.

That’s the part that should make people pay attention. Jacksonville didn’t steal this game with a few lucky breaks or rely on Lawrence to pull off one miracle after another. The Jaguars ran the ball, controlled the clock, finished their drives, and made Drake Maye’s afternoon miserable.

Then, when New England finally started to wobble, Jacksonville landed two touchdowns in 18 seconds and turned a big win into a blowout.

That’s what a real contender does. They don't let an opponent recover. They see the opening, step on the gas, and finish the job.

The Game Was Over In 18 Seconds

The score was only 14–3 when Jacksonville got the ball back with 9:50 left in the third quarter.

What happened next was probably the most important stretch of the Jaguars’ young season.

They drove 72 yards in 15 plays and converted four third downs along the way while draining 8:42 off the clock. New England looked like they'd finally gotten the stop they needed when a penalty wiped out a Parker Washington touchdown. Instead, that just made what came next even better.

On third-and-goal from the 17, Lawrence dropped a perfect pass over Washington’s shoulder. Marcus Jones interfered with Washington and still couldn’t keep him from making a fingertip catch in the end zone.

It wasn’t the kind of throw that pads a quarterback’s stat line. It was better than that. It was a third-and-17 touchdown against a defense that knew exactly what Jacksonville had to do.

Then Maye took the next snap and threw the ball right to Jarrian Jones.

Jones took the interception 31 yards to the Patriots’ 5-yard line, and Chris Rodriguez Jr. scored on the very next play. Just like that, a competitive 14–3 game turned into a 28–3 beating in 18 seconds.

That was a big answer for what happened last week. They led Denver 13–3 in the third quarter of that one, then watched the Broncos score 17 unanswered points in a 20–13 loss.

This time, Jacksonville didn’t leave the door cracked.

Jacksonville Won The Trenches

If you only looked at the yardage, you’d probably think this was a close game. New England actually outgained them 317-315.

It wasn’t. The Jaguars dominated all the parts of football that actually decide games. They converted eight of 12 third downs, scored touchdowns on all five trips into the red zone, ran for 137 yards, controlled the ball for nearly 32 minutes, and forced three turnovers.

New England went 0-for-3 in the red zone.

That’s the game right there.

Jacksonville didn’t need explosive plays every other snap because they kept putting themselves in manageable situations. Bhayshul Tuten ran 15 times for 73 yards and finished with nine successful runs without getting stuffed once. Rodriguez added 37 yards and a touchdown.

That balance let Liam Coen keep the whole offense on the table.

New England leaned more heavily on zone coverage than usual, probably because Jacksonville’s condensed formations, motion, and crossing routes can turn man coverage into a traffic jam. Lawrence handled it well, completing 14 of 21 passes for 141 yards and all three touchdowns against zone.

His final line — 19-of-29 for 182 yards, three scores and one tipped interception — probably won’t be remembered as a career game years from now. It didn’t need to be. Lawrence made the throws that mattered and let the rest of the roster do their job.

He found rookie Josh Cameron for Jacksonville’s first touchdown after DaVon Hamilton recovered Maye’s fumble. He hit former Patriot Jakobi Meyers for another score. Then he answered the erased Washington touchdown with an even tougher one.

Three touchdown passes. Three different receivers. Thomas caught one ball for eight yards, Travis Hunter barely contributed on offense and Jacksonville still scored 35 points.

That’s depth. And it’s a whole lot more sustainable than asking one superstar to rescue the offense every week.

This Is Starting To Look Like A Formula

Jacksonville's 2–1, which doesn’t sound like a huge deal on its own. But zoom out a little, and this starts to look like more than one fun September afternoon.

The Jaguars have won 10 of their last 11 regular-season games. They’ve won six straight at home. The only loss came in Denver against last year’s AFC West champion, and Jacksonville controlled most of that game.

More importantly, we’ve seen this exact response before.

Last November, Jacksonville blew a 19-point fourth-quarter lead against Houston. A week later, the Jaguars faced a hot Chargers team and beat it 35–6. They ran 47 times for 192 yards and pushed them around at the line of scrimmage.

The Jaguars didn’t lose another regular-season game.

Now they’ve followed another frustrating loss with the exact same score against another AFC contender. Apparently, 35–6 is Jacksonville’s form of therapy.

It can all be traced back to Coen’s first season. The Jaguars finished 2025 with a franchise-record 474 points and won the AFC South at 13–4. They led the NFL in run defense, finished second with 31 takeaways, and turned those turnovers into a league-high 110 points.

Those are pretty much the same things that buried New England.

The personnel has changed. Travis Etienne Jr. is gone, leaving Tuten and Rodriguez to carry the running game. Hunter's still settling into a defense-first role after an injury-shortened rookie year. Jacksonville's also working through Thomas’ slow start after his drops in Denver.

But the identity hasn’t changed.

This team wants to run efficiently, stay out of obvious passing situations, and make the opponent play a cleaner game than they're comfortable playing. Once the mistakes show up, Jacksonville turns them into points.

Hunter’s first NFL interception was a perfect example. New England had driven to the 2-yard line with a chance to make it 14–10 before halftime. Maye rolled right and tried to force a throw into the back of the endzone. Hunter stayed in position and came down with the ball.

Instead of a one-score game, the Patriots went into halftime with nothing.

New England Definitely Helped

There’s a fair argument that this result said just as much about New England as it did about Jacksonville.

The Patriots were without A.J. Brown, starting guard Mike Onwenu, edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones, and safety Craig Woodson. Then Onwenu’s replacement, Greg Van Roten, left with a thigh injury.

Maye also doesn’t look anything like the quarterback who threw 31 touchdowns and just eight interceptions during New England’s run to the Super Bowl last season.

Through three games, he has one touchdown pass and six interceptions. He fumbled twice Sunday, somehow only losing one. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said his concern level was “very high,” after the game.

So, yeah, the Jaguars didn’t beat the best version of the Patriots.

Jacksonville didn’t make Maye lose the ball untouched or force Mack Hollins to turn fourth-and-1 into a field-goal situation by drawing a taunting penalty.

They just made New England pay for every mistake.

There’s also a reason to be careful with the takeaway numbers. Jacksonville’s defense lived on turnovers last season, and those can be tough to repeat year after year. The Jaguars still gave up 317 yards Sunday, including 234 through the air, and New England moved the ball between the 20s better than the final score might suggest.

The Patriots just couldn’t finish anything.

The AFC Has To Make Room For Jacksonville

Three games aren’t enough to declare the Jaguars the team to beat in the AFC. Buffalo, Baltimore, Denver and Kansas City aren’t going anywhere, and New England's earned more than three weeks before anyone completely buries them.

Jacksonville doesn’t need that declaration yet.

They just need to be treated like what they've become: a real threat.

This isn’t the old Jaguars team hoping Lawrence can overcome a flawed roster. It isn’t even the team that surprised everyone by jumping from four wins to 13 in Coen’s first year.

This version has a recognizable way to win. They can run without Etienne, throw touchdowns without Thomas taking over, and score points even without Lawrence piling up passing yards. The defense can stop the run and really flip a game with takeaways.

Most importantly, Jacksonville's stopped letting bad afternoons linger.

The Jaguars left Denver knowing they had wasted a game. Seven days later, they made the defending AFC champions look completely ordinary.

Maybe New England's dealing with bigger problems than anyone realized. Maybe the Patriots’ injuries and Maye’s slump made this matchup look more impressive than it’ll feel in December.

Or maybe Jacksonville just showed everyone what the AFC should’ve figured out by now.

The Jaguars take on Joe Burrow and the Bengals on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.

All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data.

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