JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen spent all week telling his players that what mattered most was how they responded.
It would have been tough to imagine anything better than this.
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Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes, including one on which Parker Washington made a fingertip catch in the end zone, and the Jaguars bounced back from their worst offensive performance in nearly a year to dominate New England 35-6 on Sunday.
“You get what you emphasize so much with this team," said Coen, who became the first NFL coach to win 15 of his first 20 games since Green Bay's Matt LaFleur in 2020.
The Jaguars (2-1) won their sixth consecutive regular-season home game and raised more questions about Drake Maye’s regression with the Patriots.
Maye fumbled twice, losing one, and threw two more interceptions before getting pulled in the fourth quarter. He now has one TD pass and six INTs in three games. He threw 31 touchdowns and eight picks last season for the AFC champion Patriots (1-2).
“I’m always going to be confident in myself to make plays," Maye said. "If there’s one thing, I’m going to go out there and compete. I’m going to leave it all out there. Competing comes with being confident and being confident in this league is realizing that these mistakes, you got to eliminate them.
"More that we get out of our own way, the more the confidence in myself and this team will build. That’s something that starts with practice and it starts with me.”
Maye’s performance in this one was more alarming than his three-interception fourth quarter in the season opener at Seattle. The ball slipped out of his right hand with no one around him during one play. He threw into coverage on a third-and-goal play, resulting in Travis Hunter’s first career interception. He also threw a pass directly to cornerback Jarrian Jones that set up another score for Jacksonville.
“I think he knows what to do," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. "I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make some good ones. If it’s not there, I think sometimes you can want it too badly, and we can’t force it.”
New England had other issues, too: Andy Borregales missed a 38-yard field goal; Kyle Williams mistakenly stepped out of bounds on a kickoff return; and Mack Hollins was flagged for taunting at the end of a 9-yard reception, turning a fourth-and-1 play into a field goal.
The Jaguars played much cleaner.
Lawrence completed 19 of 29 passes for 182 yards, with an interception on a tipped pass. He connected with Jakobi Meyers and Josh Cameron for TDs. Cameron got significant snaps in place of Brian Thomas Jr., who dropped two passes in last week’s 20-13 loss at Denver.
Meyers had seven receptions for 64 yards against his former team, and Bhayshul Tuten added 73 yards rushing and a touchdown — after Lawrence took a knee at the 1 to try to milk the clock with more than eight minutes left.
“We were just ready to play,” Lawrence said. “Guys were flying around. At the end of the day, that's what it's about. It's the players executing the plan. You got to have a good plan, and we did. But it's about us going out there and owning it, playing fast and executing. We did all those things today.”
Patriots pull off a crazy play
Facing a first-and-30 play after back-to-back penalties, the Patriots dialed up some trickiness in Jacksonville territory. And it worked despite a lot of adversity.
Maye threw a backward pass to Efton Chism III, who had to elude Jones’ tackle near the sideline. Chism stayed on his feet and completed a pass to Mack Hollins that was tipped by cornerback Travis Hunter. It was far from pretty but resulted in a 16-yard gain that led to a field goal.
Little nearly hit an NFL record field goal
Jacksonville’s Cam Little just missed making a 70-yard field goal, which would have broken his NFL record. Little attempted the long kick at the end of the first half and pushed it just a couple feet right.
Little had the distance, which was no surprise considering he made a 70-yard in a preseason game against Pittsburgh in 2025. He set the real NFL mark later that year with a 68-yarder at Las Vegas in early November.
Key injuries
Patriots: RG Greg Van Roten left in the first half with a thigh injury and did not return. DT Christian Barmore (shoulder) and CB Carlton Davis III also missed snaps but returned.
Up next
Patriots: Play at Buffalo next Sunday.
Jaguars: Play at Cincinnati next Sunday.
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