The rest of America is going to have an outstanding Sunday morning when they see two one-win teams play against each other in London. The New England Patriots are horrible because of the lack of talent on their roster, while the Jacksonville Jaguars constantly find ways to keep beating themselves. Only one of them is going to get their second victory of the season, and the only worse thing that can happen is if this game somehow ends in a tie. Because the Jaguars recently played against the Chicago Bears in the Tottenham Hotspur stadium just a week ago, they will be fully acclimated to the England time zone and will have more than enough energy to try to regain their strength. However, if Drake Maye continues to look as promising as he did last week against the Houston Texans, then the Patriots could spoil yet another party. Let’s take a look at the five biggest things to pay attention to on Sunday and see what could earn New England another victory, but also what can give them a sixth straight loss to the season.
Patriots Week 7 Preview
1. Jaguars Defense is Still Abysmal
Last offseason, the Jaguars let go several of their defensive assistants, which included their coordinator Mike Caldwell. They replaced him with Ryan Nielsen, who was in charge of the Atlanta Falcons defense last year. It was a unit that was not great but still pretty good, so it was considered at least an upgrade for Jacksonville. Unfortunately, this season has proved that the coordinator is not the issue, but the lack of depth. Once again, it is a defense that solely relies on two people: Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker. Of the fourteen sacks that Jacksonville has totaled thus far, these two players are responsible for 7.5 of them. If those guys are not generating enough pressure on the quarterback, then the rest of the group is giving up the most passing yards and second most points in the entire National Football League. They only let up 113 rushing yards per game, which is twelfth in the league, but that is because other teams know that they can just throw the ball with ease against the Jaguars. Tyson Campbell has grossly underachieved after signing a big contract extension, Ronald Darby has proven to be a disastrous free agent signing, and Andre Cisco is the only safety that gives this secondary any sort of energy. In his first career start against the Texans, Maye threw for over 240 yards and three touchdowns. If he was able to put up those numbers against a top-ten defense, who knows what can happen on Sunday?
2. Trevor Lawrence Has Regressed
Earlier this summer, the Jaguars panicked a bit early and gave their quarterback Trevor Lawrence a five-year contract extension worth $275 million that includes $200 million guaranteed. It was a gross overpayment from the beginning and it has proven to be a big mistake this year. His performance has not been completely atrocious. He has thrown eight touchdown passes and just three interceptions through six games played, while ranked in the top fifteen in passing yards. However, he has one of the worst completion percentages in the NFL and the offense has only scored 18.8 points per game, which is well below average. Lawrence is not the only one who is disappointed, unfortunately. Travis Etienne has been surprisingly unproductive with just 230 rushing yards and two touchdowns on fifty-six carries, and the rumors of him being on the trading block have started to heat up. The Patriots’ defense has been an extreme disappointment with their lack of production this season, so this upcoming game might be a perfect chance for Jacksonville to bounce back, especially since they do not have to worry about traveling to another country or continent.
3. Jacksonville’s Offense Still Has Plenty of Talent
Although the win-loss record is absolutely atrocious, the Jaguars still have a few playmakers that can create a lot of problems for this Patriots defense. Last week was only the second game that Evan Engram had a chance to play because of a nagging hamstring injury and he caught all ten of his targets for 102 yards. Unfortunately, he set the Bears up for a convincing blowout with a costly fumble at the start of the second quarter, but the numbers are still impressive given the fact that he had not played in over a month. Tank Bigsby has taken over as the starting running back. Last week was not his brightest performance with just twenty-four rushing yards on seven carries, but he recently totaled over 100 yards and scored twice against the Colts, and also totaled 90 yards against the Texans. The more Etienne that has disappointed, the more opportunities that Bigsby has been given, and the second year back has been making the most out of them. The team’s first-round rookie Brian Thomas Jr. is on pace to have a promising rookie season, and Sunday’s game against Chicago was the first time where he did not total more than forty-five receiving yards or reach the end zone, so he has proven to put up solid numbers in between. Patriots fans know what type of big play threat Gabe Davis can be and Christian Kirk has always been a speed demon, and given how their defense has regressed since Ja’Whaun Bentley tore his pec in the second game of the year, they know that this is not going to be an easy walk in the park. If Lawrence can throw for over 370 yards and lead a game-winning drive against the Indianapolis Colts, then it is not impossible for him to have a signature performance against a New England defense that is without some of their best players.
4. Could Rhamondre Stevenson Return?
Rhamondre Stevenson missed last week’s game because of a foot injury, setting up the stage for Antonio Gibson to make his second consecutive start. The running game had no success against the Texans. Gibson was held to nineteen yards on thirteen carries and their leading rusher was Maye, who totaled thirty-eight yards on five scrambles. Although their rookie quarterback showed tremendous promise through the air, he still got sacked four times and turned the ball over three times, so this Patriots offense might be set up for another nauseating performance if they cannot get anything going on the ground. Whether Stevenson returns or not, their ability to run the ball will impact whether or not the passing game can open up. The Jaguars easily have the worst passing defense in the National Football League, that much is true, but that flaw gets easily exposed when opponents successfully implement a balanced approach.
5. Could This Be Doug Pederson’s Final Game?
After last week’s defeat against Chicago, Doug Pederson said there needed to be a culture change, and those comments made a lot of eyes roll. When he was hired as the head coach of the Jaguars, he was supposed to get rid of the nasty and foul stench that was the Urban Meyer era. In his first year with the team, Pederson lead the Jaguars to an AFC South title and an improbable playoff comeback victory against the Los Angeles Chargers. Even if they did not have enough to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the next round, it looked like Jacksonville was back on the map. But ever since then, it has been a slow downward spiral for this team. They got off to an 8-3 start the following year with a convincing first-place lead in the AFC South, only to lose five of their next six games to miss the playoffs. Now they are one of the worst teams in the league with a 1-5 record, they have a decent roster with solid players, and yet everything is falling apart at the seams. Pederson was supposed to make sure that the team maintained its standards and that they were able to elevate itself as a championship contender. None of those things have transpired one bit. The offense has massively regressed and the defense is still abysmal, so they deserve to be as putrid as they are right now. There are rumors that this could be the last game that Pederson coaches, but the only way to avoid that rumor coming true is if the Jaguars win on Sunday. If they somehow lose to the Patriots, regardless of the final score, then their season will be unofficially over.
The Patriots have the pieces to make this an exciting contest and a respectable quarterback to give them the energy they need, but getting the win is way easier said than done. Obviously, coaches cannot be blamed when players make errors, but it is up to Jerod Mayo to give his team a sense of urgency and pride, especially if they want to avoid losing their sixth straight game. Nobody expected New England to be good this year anyway, so this is the perfect opportunity for them to prove some people wrong by outhustling and outperforming an underachieving Jaguars team.
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