10 Key Takeaways from the New England Patriots’ Blowout Loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars

“My concern level is very high for this football team.” 

New England Patriots’ head coach Mike Vrabel summed up his team’s performance bluntly after self-inflicted wounds plagued New England (1-2) in all three phases of the game during a 35-6 loss at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1) on Sunday afternoon.

Jacksonville may have come out on the top of the scoreboard, but they stood idly by as the Patriots cannibalized themselves with repeated unforced errors that caused turnovers, created costly penalties, and saw New England be thoroughly outplayed situationally. 

Here are 10 key takeaways from the Patriots’ blowout loss to the Jaguars:

There’s the good, the bad, and the stuff that gets you beat — and Drake Maye was the culprit of the latter on several occasions against Jacksonville on Sunday.

Looking to shake the rough stretch he’s had to start the regular season, Maye dug himself a deeper hole with three more turnovers. He leads the NFL with seven turnovers in the first three games of 2026, and his six interceptions in the first three games are the franchise's worst mark since Drew Bledsoe in 1994 (six). 

His struggles against the Jaguars’ defense started early and persisted until he was ultimately pulled from the game with eight minutes remaining and the team faced an insurmountable 35-6 deficit, but Jacksonville was more opportunistic than they were aggressive.

Maye’s errors began on New England’s first drive, when Vrabel was forced to burn an early timeout to avoid a delay of game on 3rd-and-5. They were amplified on the Patriots’ second possession with the third-year quarterback’s first turnover — unaffected by any incoming rushers, the ball slipped out of Maye’s hands as he began his throwing motion and the fumble was recovered by the Jaguars. Maye was looking for Kyle Williams down the right sideline for a could-be score, but instead, the “strip sack” led to the Jaguars’ first touchdown of the game on the ensuing drive.

Down 7-0 early in the second quarter, Maye was sacked while trying to scramble forward in the pocket on 3rd-and-3, nullifying any momentum that would have been generated on the drive and forcing a quick three-and-out by the offense. New England regained possession quickly from a Marcus Jones interception on Jacksonville’s first play of the next possession — setting the offense up in scoring position at the Jaguars’ 21-yard-line.

A Morgan Moses holding penalty that took a Maye 21-yard touchdown run off the board and a Romeo Doubs offensive pass interference immediately after the takeaway pushed the Patriots back to the 41-yard-line before they began to make any forward progress. They were held to three points on the four-play, four-yard drive after another three-and-out.

One of Maye’s lone highlights came on a hole shot to DeMario Douglas on the Cover 2 side of Cover 6 after Jacksonville took 14-3 lead. The play was good for a 38-yard gain, but was immediately negated by a low, dropped pass to Douglas short over the middle of the field, and an overthrow beyond the hands of an outstretched Douglas on dash pass two plays later. The near miss came on the same play as last week’s 63-yarder to Doubs, but yielded far different results — emblematic of the team’s performance throughout. Maye nearly threw an interception on the 3rd-and-10 that followed, but a holding penalty on cornerback Jarrian Jones in coverage gave the Patriots a first down.

New England’s longest drive of the game almost came to a halt when Maye fumbled scrambling for first down with 1:12 remaining in first half, but he fell on top of the ball to put the Patriots in a goal-to-go situation with time winding down and the chance at a two-for-one to swing the game back in New England’s favor. Instead, Maye threw an interception on the back-line of the end zone on third-and-goal, trying to force the ball to a blanketed Efton Chism III on a play-action boot to his right. Rather than throwing the ball away, Maye’s over-aggression allowed Travis Hunter to register his first-career pick and render the 10-play, 70-yard drive moot. 

Maye finished the first half 6-of-13 passing with 88 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, one fumble lost, a 36.7 passer rating, and an EPA-per-dropback of -0.67 (per SūmerSports). 

The Patriots turned to Rhamondre Stevenson and the ground game on their first possession of the second half, gaining 42 yards on another 10-play drive that reached the Jaguars’ 20-yard-line, but Andy Borregales’ missed 38-yard field goal left them without points once more. The game remained 14-3, and the mistakes kept piling on.

Maye’s second interception — to Jones — with 54 seconds remaining in third quarter was returned back to the New England 5-yard-line and all-but sealed the victory for Jacksonville. It came on the heels of a Jaguars’ 15-play, 72-yard touchdown drive, and Chris Rodriguez’s touchdown run on the following play marked Jacksonville’s second touchdown in 18 seconds of game time and pushed the lead to 28-3 for the home team.

The offense looked to sustain another drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter and the margin out-of-reach, but the nine-play, 69-yard drive ended with a Mack Hollins’ taunting penalty that turned a would-be 4th-and-1 at the Jacksonville 7-yard-line into a 4th-and-16 at the 22-yard-line. The Patriots’ settled for three points, and called it a quits on Maye’s day.

Maye concluded the afternoon 14-of-25 passing (56.0% completion percentage) with 199 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, one fumble lost, a 48.6 passer rating, and an EPA-per-dropback of -0.53. 

His post-snap hesitation resulted in an average time-to-throw of 3.31 seconds, which is 0.7 seconds above the NFL average. While he did a better job of stepping up into the pocket to extend plays — rather than sliding into pressure deeper into the pocket — his indecision invited the pass-rush, and he wasn’t able to convert when it arrived. When pressured (on 10 dropbacks, per PFF), Maye was 3-of-8 passing with 48 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, two sacks, and two turnover-worthy plays. 

In the midst of New England’s 0-for-3 showing in the red zone, Maye went 1-for-6 with nine yards passing, an interception, and an EPA/play of -1.41. The Patriots converted just 3-of-11 third downs with Maye at the helm; he went 3-of-7 with 48 yards passing, one interception, and one sack on late downs in the game.

Per Next Gen Stats, New England's seven possessions in opposing territory without scoring a touchdown were the team's most such drives since Week 8, 2003, against the Cleveland Browns. The Patriots' touchdown-less performance also broke a streak of 33 consecutive games scoring at least one touchdown. On 30 offensive possessions to start the season, the team’s 29 points and 0.97 points-per-drive are the worst start to a season since the 2021 New York Jets; they’ve scored on a league-worst 6.7% of their possessions.

Another difficult showing from the 24-year-old this fall led to New England’s demise in Jacksonville, but the former MVP-runner-up was far from alone in the team’s collective downfall this weekend.

Nine of them that gifted the Jaguars 68 yards, to be exact.

The Patriots’ repeated infractions took points off the board in the second quarter, helped the Jaguars put points on the board in the third quarter, and extended scoring drives for the opposition on multiple occasions. 

They twice happened on back-to-back snaps: Moses’ hold and Doubs’ offensive pass interference after Marcus Jones’ interception, and on Jacksonville’s one-minute drill at the end of the first half — when edge rushers Elijah Ponder and Gabe Jacas took turns jumping into the neutral zone. New England was flagged for pre-snap penalties on defense three times after Milton Williams leaped offside in the third quarter.

Hollins’ taunting penalty was the icing on the cake at the beginning of the fourth quarter. He gained nine yards on a 3rd-and-10 in-cut, and his celebration into the faces of the Jaguars’ defensive backs after being stopped short of the line to gain and facing a 28-3 deficit took his team out of four-down territory — a large damper on an otherwise productive day for Maye’s preferred boundary target.

Prior to his transgression, Mack Hollins was putting together an admirable performance in lew of the chaos that surrounded him. 

He led the team with six receptions on nine targets and 87 receiving yards, and continued to operate as Maye’s go-to receiver with a 29% target share on Sunday. His sure hands were relied on early and often, and by more than one arm. 

On the Patriots’ first third down of the game, he won on a hitch against Travis Hunter past the sticks and boxed out the athletic defender for the ball. Hollins converted another third down on New England’s second possession on a similar route — that time, shielding Jarrian Jones from being able to make a play on the football. Later in the drive, he aligned as an in-line blocker on a 3rd-and-2 conversion by Stevenson up-the-gut. 

Later in the second quarter, Hollins was on the receiving-end of a double-pass by Efton Chism (on the 1st-and-30 that followed Doubs’ offensive pass interference penalty). While it resulted in a gain of 16 yards, the play nearly turned disastrous. Chism looked to be targeting Maye on a second throw-back that was taken away by the Jacksonville front-seven. He tucked the ball, turned upfield, and then decided to reload and fire to Hollins on a shallow crossing route. The ball was tipped into the air, and Hollins came down with the catch, turning another turnover-worthy play into a positive gain.

Doubs was the only receiver not-named Hollins to record more than one reception in the game, but his biggest impact came on a 21-yard strike late from Tommy DeVito. He finished the game with three receptions on four targets and 49 receiving yards.

Douglas’ explosive play was overshadowed by inefficiencies and a continued lack of chemistry with Maye. His only catch went for 38 yards, but he was targeted five times in the game. Whether throws were late, low, or high, Maye couldn’t seem to develop a better rapport with Douglas on Sunday, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. 

On the Patriots’ first possession, Douglas also looked at-fault for poor spacing with Hunter Henry on the 3rd-and-9 miss that put a stop to the drive. Henry was a non-factor throughout, with just one catch on two targets and five receiving yards.

Kyle Williams was the target on two of Maye’s three turnovers, but wasn’t at fault on either play. The first was Maye’s “blood on the ball” fumble, and the second was Maye’s second interception. Williams ran a double-move and hitched-up just past the first down marker, but Jones ran stride-for-stride with him and Maye tried to force the ball to him late and inside, resulting in an easy takeaway for the Jaguars. 

He did have one highlight — a 34-yard reception in the fourth quarter — but stepped out-of-bounds at the 12-yard-line on the would-be touchdown and New England settled for three points. 

Williams’ biggest blunder in the game came on special teams — another area that New England endured several miscues. In the third quarter, he caught a kickoff that was headed out-of-bounds at the 9-yard line, pinning the Patriots back deep in their own territory and setting up an eight-yard sack by Maye on the following play that placed the ball inside the 1-yard-line.

An uneven day was equalled by an uneven day for the New England receiving corps, and the issues seemed to spread to other areas of the team.

While the Patriots struggled to sustain momentum through their air, their impact on the ground was relatively non-existent.

TreVeyon Henderson (eight carries, 23 yards, 2.9 yards per carry) and Rhamondre Stevenson (seven carries, 22 yards, 3.1 yards per carry) combined for 15 rushes, 45 rushing yards, and averaged just 3.0 yards per carry. As a team, New England ran 26 times and gained 83 yards for an average of 3.2 yards per carry. Maye had the Patriots’ longest rushing gain of the day on the nine-yard scramble in which he fumbled and recovered with under two minutes remaining in the first half. Of the Patriots’ 83 yards on the ground, 64 came after contact. They had a 30.8% success rate running the ball in the game — a new season-low.

New England’s ineffectiveness running the football made them one-dimensional in a game where Maye’s confidence was clearly shaken, but that wasn’t the story on the home team’s sideline.

Jacksonville maintained perfect balance on Sunday afternoon. On 60 offensive snaps, they called 30 passes, and 30 runs — and were able to make impactful use of their running game throughout with a 50% success rate on the ground. They gained 137 yards by land, while lead-back Bhaysul Tuten toted the rock 15 times, scooted for 73 yards, and averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

The Patriots were outplayed by the Jaguars on both sides of the line of scrimmage, with lasting ramifications exiting the contest.

New England’s already banged-up offensive line became even thinner along the interior early in Jacksonville. 

Veteran guard Greg Van Roten, who was starting in place of the injured Mike Onwenu, left the game in the second quarter after what appeared to be a non-contact injury to his left leg/ankle. He was ruled out with a thigh injury after playing 22 snaps in the contest and allowing one pressure.

Walter Rouse stepped in as the third right guard to see action for the Patriots in as many weeks to begin the season — and the results were as-expected for the former game day inactive. Rouse allowed four pressures, three hurries, and a sack (at the 1-yard-line following Williams’ poorly fielded kickoff) in pass protection, and failed to generate any push off the line of scrimmage as a run blocker.

Not to be outdone, Rouse was flanked by a faltering Morgan Moses, who allowed three pressures to Travon Walker and was flagged on the holding penalty that negated Maye’s would-be 21-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Moses was taken out of the game in the third quarter in favor of rookie Caleb Lomu, who saw 20 snaps at right tackle and six as an eligible sixth offensive lineman earlier in the day. Lomu allowed one pressure, registered a pass-blocking efficiency grade of 96.4%, and posted the highest offensive grade of any Patriots’ linemen at 80.5, per PFF.

Though it wasn’t pretty for the right side of New England’s offensive line for the majority of the afternoon, the left side of the line held up well. 

Center Jared Wilson had a bounce-back performance after a much-maligned Week 2 outing saw him allow four pressures and post a pass-blocking grade of just 4.0. Against Jacksonville, Wilson allowed no pressures on 33 pass-blocking snaps and posted the team’s second-highest pass-blocking grade at 84.0 — only to be outdone by left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (84.1), who allowed no pressures on 39 pass-blocking snaps. Wilson and Vera-Tucker both posted 100.0% pass-blocking efficiency grades in the game. Left tackle Will Campbell also continued his early-season excellence, allowing one pressure on 39 pass-blocking snaps and registering a pass-blocking efficiency grade of 98.6%.

In 2025, it was the Patriots’ left side that was their weakness, and the right side that was their strength up-front. Through three weeks of the 2026 season, that seems to be reversed. New England will have to figure out how to solve those issues quickly as injuries keep mounting.

The Patriots’ thinning depth extended to the defensive line — and more specifically, the edge rusher spots, where New England had just three players on the active roster on Sunday.

With Dre’Mont Jones ruled out due to a shoulder injury on Friday, the Patriots signed Jose Ramirez to the 53-man roster to spell Elijah Ponder and Gabe Jacas. It was a mixed bag from the young starting duo in their most extensive playing time for New England.

Ponder (51 snaps) and Jacas (49 snaps) played the vast majority of the contest without substituting out of the game for Ramirez (eight snaps) or practice squad call-up defensive tackle Jeremiah Pharms Jr. (13 snaps), who also took his reps along the edge to fill the immediate need. 

Ponder was more effective as a pass rusher. On 25 pass-rushing snaps, he generated four pressures, combined with Jacas on a sack, and registered a pass-rush win-rate of 16.7%. Jacas recorded a pass-rush win-rate of just 3.4% on 30 pass rushing snaps, but was credited with three pressures and the combined sack. Their one impactful play in the backfield was quickly negated by a 3rd-and-11 conversion by Jakobi Meyers, who beat Carlton Davis in coverage to gain the first down. Davis was also flagged for a facemask on the play.

Christian Barmore’s production slowed after briefly exiting the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter. He returned to the lineup soon thereafter, but was managed throughout and played just 28 defensive snaps. He recorded one pressure and one tackle, but posted a season-low pass-rush win-rate of 11.1%. Entering Sunday, Barmore was one of the top-graded defensive tackles across the league with a 20.9% pass-rush win-rate, 10.9% pressure rate, one strip-sack (returned for a touchdown by Ponder), and an 87.5 pass-rushing grade that ranked third among all NFL interior defensive linemen.

As a team, the Patriots pressured Lawrence on just ten of his 32 dropbacks (31.3%). He was sacked once, and completed five-of-seven passing attempts (71.4% completion percentage) with 59 yards while under pressure. New England blitzed on 53.1% of his dropbacks, but were largely unable to affect Lawrence in the pocket. They posted a missed tackle rate of 14.93% in the game, and were penalized pre-snap three times for jumping into the neutral zone.

While the Patriots’ offense was sputtering, Lawrence and the Jaguars’ offense got hot and stayed hot for the better part of the game.

He began the first quarter completing 6-of-8 passing attempts with 36 yards, and went 8-of-10 with 56 yards and a dime to Josh Cameron for a 12-yard touchdown before his lone mishap of the contest on the Jones interception. By halftime, he was 13-of-20 with 111 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, a 91.9 rating, and a -0.13 EPA-per-dropback.

Under pressure or kept clean, Lawrence hung in the pocket and delivered consistently. That was no more apparent than in the third quarter, when he completed 5-of-8 passes for 54 yards, one touchdown, and registered an EPA-per-dropback of +0.68 while the Jacksonville lead ballooned to 25 points.

Lawrence’s final highlight came with his legs. He broke free on a 15-yard run when he bounced off of Jacas and Cory Durden in the hole and took a knee at the one yard line with 8:56 remaining in fourth quarter. Tuten scored on the next play to push the score to 35-6.

By the game’s end, the Jaguars converted 8-of-12 third down attempts, turned all five red zone trips into touchdowns, and Lawrence starred — completing 19-of-29 passes (65.5% completion percentage) with 182 passing yards, three touchdowns, one interception, a passer rating of 102.9, and an EPA-per-dropback of +0.16. He added four carries and 25 rushing yards on the ground.

While Lawrence enjoyed an efficient day through the air, New England was victim to several lapses in coverage. Some exceptional individual plays were made, but the Patriots’ were unable to string together stops.

Carlton Davis III returned to the lineup after missing last week due to a neck injury and almost had an interception on Jacksonville’s first trip into the red zone. The Jaguars placed running back Ameer Abdullah at the base of a stacked receiver set and tried to target him on a quick screen, but Davis fought through traffic and recorded a pass breakup. Just as quickly as he made a play, the New England defense gave up Lawrence’s first touchdown pass to Josh Cameron on the next play. 

Aside from his early pass breakup, Davis had a difficult day in coverage. He was targeted six times and allowed five receptions, 33 yards, and a passer rating against of 89.6. He briefly exited the game in the second quarter after appearing to reaggravate his neck when tackling tight end Brenton Strange on the sideline, but soon re-entered the contest.

Safety Jaylen Reed tipped a second quarter pass to Strange, who was double-teamed over the middle by a dropping Jeremiah Pharms Jr. off the edge. Marcus Jones finished the play with the Patriots’ lone interception and set-up New England’s offense at the Jacksonville21-yard line with 11:04 remaining in the second quarter.

Jones’ “feast or famine” tendencies in coverage persisted, however. He gave up three receptions on five targets, including a 12-yard touchdown to Parker Washington in the third quarter. Jones was also beat by Washington for a score on the play prior, but an illegal hands to the face penalty by right tackle Cole Van Lanen negated the initial score. The Jaguars backed up five more yards, targeted Jones again, and scored again — through a defensive pass interference penalty at the goal line.

The Patriots’ most dependable player in coverage was Christian Gonzalez, who once again proved his worth and looked like the best player on the field for New England. On 32 coverage snaps, Gonzalez was targeted three times, gave up one reception for 14 yards (to Meyers in the third quarter), registered one pass breakup, and held a passer rating against of 49.3. He also had a great break on the ball to stop running back LeQuint Allen short of first down marker on 3rd-and-5 checkdown from Lawrence in the first quarter. Gonzalez appeared to injure his left shoulder on the tackle, but did not miss any plays because of it.

After entering the day ranked first in the NFL in man-coverage rate (42.5%) and defensive EPA-per-dropback on such snaps (-0.89), the Patriots ran man-to-man coverages on just 29% of Lawrence’s dropbacks in Week 3. Per SūmerSports, New England’s most frequently called coverage was Cover 4; Lawrence completed 6-of-7 passes with 51 passing yards, one touchdown (Washington’s score over Jones), and an EPA/play of +0.64 against that coverage shell.

The Patriots’ ups and downs in coverage were reflective of their performance in several other areas, adding just one more spot to an extensive list of places where they were out-gunned on Sunday.

Andy Borregales’ early-season kicking woes showed up yet again in Jacksonville.

Borregales made his first attempt from 35-yards out in the first half, but missed wide right from 38-yards out on the opening drive of the second half — rendering a 10-play, 42-yard drive scoreless in a two-possession game.He came back with a make from 40-yards out at the beginning of the fourth quarter to make the score 28-6, but his inconsistencies have been notable throughout the preseason and into the latter stages of the first month of the regular season.

The miss was Borregales’ second in as many weeks. In September 20th’s home opener, he missed a 47-yard field goal wide right in the third quarter. He appeared to slice his next field goal attempt to the left from 45-yards out to the left, but it cut back inside for the make.

Two straight 2-for-3 showings compound growing concerns surrounding Borregales, who also missed three kicks (from 55, 56, and 49-yards out) against the Indianapolis Colts in the preseason opener. It will be worth monitoring if more competition enters the room in the coming days.

Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for New England against the Jaguars. 

That type of blowout loss wasn’t present for the Patriots during the 2025 regular season, when they went 14-3 and mounted a run to Super Bowl LX. On the game’s biggest stage, however, New England was humbled in a 29-13 loss that was much more lopsided than the scoreboard would suggest.

Sunday’s result looks worse — and may have been uglier — than their shortcomings in February, but came in Week 3 of the regular season.

September is often fool’s gold, and the 1-2 2026 Patriots currently hold the same record as they did at this time last year. With 14 more games to go in the regular season, this could soon become a distant memory — and one that the team learns a valuable early-season lesson from. 

Sunday’s loss was the floor for New England, and we’ve yet to see the ceiling. With high-level talent ripe throughout the roster, much greater results are still attainable, and will come in time. 

The Patriots will need to put the emotional unrest of Sunday’s defeat behind them quickly, as they head back on the road and travel to the new Highmark Stadium for an AFC East showdown against the Buffalo Bills (3-0) next weekend.

What were your takeaways from New England’s loss in Jacksonville on Sunday? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation on Patriots Roundtable.

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