Patriots 50, Jaguars 10: New England Balks at Jacksonville's Attempts to Compete

Sunday was a bad, bad, bad loss for the Jaguars.

In a week in which fans have attempted a social media uprising against the Jacksonville Jaguars front office and ownership, the Jaguars only stoked the flames in a lopsided 50-10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 17.

Jacksonville entered the game as heavy underdogs, but that didn't do Sunday's manhandling justice. The Patriots blew the Jaguars out of the water from the first snap to the very last one, with the Jaguars having just a handful of positive plays all game long. 

The Jaguars were missing 13 players from the active roster on Sunday, including three starting offensive linemen in left tackle Cam Robinson, center Brandon Linder, and right guard Ben Bartch, along with backup guard Will Richardson Jr. 

As a result, the Jaguars started long-time backup K.C. McDermott at right guard, and the consequences played out early as Jacksonville allowed a sack on the second offensive snap of the game -- the first solo sack by Dont'a Hightower since 2019. 

The sack resulted in a quick three-and-out for the Jaguars' offense, while the Patriots' ensuring offensive drive was the exact opposite in every way. 

While the Jaguars' offense failed to put together consecutive positive plays on their first drive, the Patriots had little issue moving the ball on their first drive, marching 70 yards in 11 plays as Mac Jones completed 5-of-5 passes for 47 yards before Damien Harris scored on a two-yard touchdown. 

Jacksonville was able to strike back in their own regard thanks to a 40-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to Laquon Treadwell, a perfectly-placed pass in double coverage while under pressure. It was one of the biggest throws of Lawrence's rookie season, propelling the Jaguars into the red-zone and breaking the franchise record for passing yards from a rookie quarterback. 

The Jaguars once again struggled to put the ball into the end zone, however, as Lawrence's third-down pass sailed over Marvin Jones Jr. and the Jaguars were forced to settle for a 29-yard Matthew Wright field goal, making it a 7-3 ballgame. 

New England's offense kept the foot on the pedal on the second drive, however. Jones again completed all of his passes (this time two completions for 26 yards) as the Patriots ran all over Jacksonville's battered defense. The Jaguars again failed to offer any resistance or force a negative play, with the Patriots eventually scoring on a seven-yard touchdown from Harris.

Jacksonville fought back with two big completions from Lawrence on the following drive, including a third-down conversion to Treadwell and a 24-yard completion to Jones to get into New England territory. 

But the Jaguars again shot themselves in the foot. After getting some offensive momentum, the Jaguars gave the ball right up to the Patriots, with running back Ryquell Armstead letting a pass go through his hands and into the hands of Myles Bryant. 

With the ball at the Jaguars' 33-yard line, the Patriots' offense had an easy task at hand and didn't have much get in their way. Seven plays and a pair of third-down conversions later, Jones threw a seven-yard touchdown to Kristian Wilkerson to go up 21-3.

Things only got worse for the Jaguars from there. Lawrence missed badly on a short throw to Tavon Austin, who was covered tightly by J.C. Jackson. Lawrence's errant throw to a covered receiver resulted in an interception from Jackson, Lawrence's second turnover of the day.

The blowout was on by this point. The Jaguars looked helpless on both sides of the ball, with the defense both bending and breaking. Matters got even worse for them as calls began to go against them, with Jihad Ward being flagged for roughing the passer on a sack of Jones.

The penalty mixed with the Jaguars' inability to stop a nosebleed on defense led to Jones throwing his second touchdown of the half shortly before the second-quarter ended, this time a four-yard touchdown to Jakobi Meyers.

The Patriots ended the first half with four touchdown drives on four possessions, 17 first downs, 207 net yards (6.3 yards per play), and 100 rushing yards with a 100% first-down rate. By comparison, the Jaguars had just six first downs, 150 net yards (6.3 yards per play) and 45 rushing yards, while allowing two sacks and converting 3-of-5 first-downs. 

Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Jaguars, even in the unlikelihood of that being possible considering how bad things were at halftime. A Jaguars team that already looked like it was playing a different sport than its opponent continued to look outmatched in the second-half as the Patriots again marched down the field with ease on the opening drive. 

A six-play, 77-yard drive with multiple big plays was capped off by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Wilkerson, who streaked wide open down the left sideline due to a busted coverage from Tyson Campbell. This resulted in the Patriots' fifth touchdown in five drives and made it a 34-3 game after Adam Gotsis blocked the PAT. 

Lawrence had his third game this year with three interceptions or more after throwing yet another interception on an ensuing drive -- this time an underneath pass to Jones that was telegraphed by Lawrence and picked off by Kyle Dugger, who returned it to the Jaguars' one-yard line. 

One play later, Rhamondre Stevenson scored from a yard out to make it 41-3, turning into the most lopsided loss of a historically awful season in Jacksonville. 

From the first snap to the last, the Jaguars failed to look like they were close to being on the same playing field as the Patriots. The Jaguars allowed a touchdown on nearly every single drive of the game and the lack of support around Lawrence was compounded by how easy things looked for Jones on every snap. 

Sunday was always going to be lopsided considering the Jaguars' absences against a playoff team, but this was worse than that. It was the biggest blowout loss of the season for a team that has been getting blown out almost weekly. The Patriots looked like an NFL team, while the Jaguars looked like anything but. 

It got to the point where Brian Hoyer got snaps for the Patriots, the ultimate sign of futility considering the game was so lopsided that a backup quarterback got playing time.

By the time the fourth quarter came around and Stevenson scored his second touchdown to put the Patriots up 50-3, the Jaguars were in the midst of more than the worst loss of a bad 2021 season. Instead, it was the most lopsided loss in the entire franchise history of the Jaguars, a sign of the times for arguably the worst team in franchise history.

The Jaguars were able to avoid this embarrassing record thanks to a 28-yard screen for a touchdown from Lawrence to Dare Ogunbowale, breaking Lawrence's streak of 184 passes without a touchdown. But the game was far, far out of reach by this point, with that touchdown acting as more of a symbolic monkey off Lawrence's back than anything else. 

Lawrence finished the game 17-of-27 (63%) for 193 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Overall, the Jaguars gained just 253 yards compared to the Patriots' 471, with 11 first downs to New England's 32.

The loss, which is Jacksonville's eighth in a row, drops the Jaguars to 2-14 with one game remaining. The Jaguars will finish the 2021 season at home against the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday.