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Jacksonville Jaguars preaching short memory after cruising past 'soft' Patriots in London
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- Jacksonville Jaguars preaching short memory after cruising past 'soft' Patriots in London
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo uttered forbidden words after the team's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in London.
"We're a soft football team across the board. Talk about what makes a tough football team, that's being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and that's being able to cover kicks and we did none of those," Mayo said to open his postgame press conference via ESPN's Mike Reiss .
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The feeling New England (1-6) felt Sunday is reminiscent of how the Jaguars (2-5) felt last week against the Chicago Bears in the team's Week 6 loss.
TAKEAWAYS: Jacksonville Jaguars feature Bigsby, run game to beat New England Patriots 32-16 in London
Jacksonville needed to shake off the stink of its clunker against Chicago and the Jaguars did so with a convincing 32-16 victory over the Patriots in London at Wembley Stadium.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said following the game that the pressure heading into this week against the Patriots was only that the team "needed to win a game" after a 1-5 start to the season.
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He added that the Jaguars needed to "feel what winning feels like again."
To Mayo's point, the Jaguars rushed for 171 yards, adding two touchdowns via running back Tank Bigsby who totaled 118 yards rushing, the second 100-yard game of his career. Jacksonville held New England to 38 yards on the ground. According to Pro Football Reference, it was the 35th-worst rushing performance in team history.
According to Pro Football Reference, it marked the 20th time in Jaguars history that the team held an opponent to 37 or fewer rushing yards. It was the first time since limiting Buffalo to 39 yards in their win in London over the Bills on Oct. 8, 2023.
To Mayo's final point, the Jaguars scored on a 96-yard punt return by receiver/return specialist Parker Washington . Washington's return marked the first punt-return touchdown in London Games history and the longest punt return in Jaguars history.
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Doug Pederson, Trevor Lawrence preach short-term memory after win over Patriots
Pederson understands that the Jaguars aren't in the clear just yet. He said in his postgame press conference that the team has to carry the momentum from this week's win back to the States.
"We've got to duplicate it. We've got to duplicate the energy. We've got to duplicate what we did over here," Pederson said, noting that this week of practice was one of the team's better weeks this season.
"We've got to be able to carry this all the way back and do it again. I mean, that's what this league is. It's a short-term memory. You just try to go 1-0 each week, but I thought the guys really handled themselves professionally while we were here for the 10 days," he added.
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Jacksonville began this week in dire straits. The team was reeling after a lopsided loss to the Bears. There were questions about the team's effort and culture. Even the team's fragility was brought to the front of everyone's minds by starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
But that wasn't an issue Sunday against New England, and Pederson noted that this is what the team is capable of doing.
"I feel strongly that, if we play like that, that's what we're capable of," Pederson said. "Now, is it sustainable over the course of 60 minutes? It's not going to be sustainable, I get it. The other team is just as good. But, again, we got in a situation where we were down 10 and nobody was like 'here we go again' or defeated or had negative thoughts. It was just one play at a time.
"We'll work ourselves back in it and (the) offense went out and we showed the complementary aspect of the game today in all three phases and that's the spark that hopefully can get this thing going."
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The Jaguars began the game down 10-0 after the first quarter before scoring 22 unanswered points in the second quarter heading into halftime. They did so with all three phases chipping in. Jacksonville's offense scored twice, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Lawrence to rookie wideout Brian Thomas Jr. , and a 1-yard touchdown run from Bigsby, capped off with Washington's punt-return touchdown.
Washington strikes in England: Jacksonville Jaguars returner electrifies with record TD
Still, Lawrence understands that Sunday wasn't perfect even though the team needed to win with its backs against the wall.
"I think that's great for our confidence moving forward," Lawrence said after the game. "But, like I said, we've got another opponent next week, Green Bay and we got to go put everything we can into that one to go win it. Wins and losses are really short-lived in this league. You have to be able to move on. Like I said to you guys last week after a loss, you got to be able to turn the page and go win the next one. So, that's what our minds are on."
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Lawrence completed 15 of 20 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. While he didn't light up the stat sheet, Lawrence made the necessary throws to give the Jaguars a chance.
Andre Cisco cleared the air with teammates after 'quit' comments last week
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 20: JaMycal Hasty of New England Patriots scores his teams first touchdown during the NFL match between New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on October 20, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Jacksonville's defense responded tremendously after a lackluster effort against the Bears last weekend.
Seven of the Patriots' 16 points came during the waning minutes of the game. Jacksonville forced four straight punts between the second and third quarters and a turnover on downs that essentially sealed the team's win.
There weren't very many blown assignments. The team recorded two sacks, five tackles for loss and four pass breakups. In his return to the playing field, cornerback Tyson Campbell nearly recorded an interception and didn't appear to allow many catches on the backend.
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It wasn't a perfect game, but it was much better than Jacksonville's showing last week against Chicago — a performance that safety Andre Cisco said after the game showed a lot of "quit."
After Sunday's win, Cisco said that his comments were well-received by his teammates. He explained that the general reaction was a question of who he was talking about if anyone. He said that his comments were a case of "raw emotion" after losing last week.
"The general reaction was 'Were you talking about somebody in particular?' and once that kind of cleared the air I would say the conversations were productive. It was just along the lines of how I felt in my personal position on the field and obviously (I) didn't say it how I wanted to in that moment, just raw emotion," Cisco said.
"But, definitely allowed each other to just talk about it. I know some guys are just like, 'Oh, I heard about your quote, were you talking about somebody in particular?' and I was like 'Nah, not at all. More so just the feel of the game' "
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The Jaguars will take on the Green Bay Packers next week at EverBank Stadium. They return to the United States 1-1 after a 10-day stay in London and back-to-back games at two different stadiums in the United Kingdom.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars want to build on win over New England Patriots
