The Jacksonville Jaguars will host another game at Wembley Stadium in London, England on Sunday. It’ll be another early one with a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff, 6:30 a.m. PT for those on the West Coast. The game will air on the NFL Network. Let’s dive in and take a look at this Patriots-Jaguars preview and predictions.
Drake Maye had an impressive debut as the New England Patriots starting quarterback last week against the Houston Texans. The rookie went 20/33 for 243 yards and three touchdowns. He added two interceptions and ran the ball five times for 38 yards. Unfortunately for New England, that was the only impressive part of their 41-21 loss to the Texans. They enter this game with a record of 1-5.
Things haven’t been much better on the other side of the ball. The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t looked very good this season. They are coming off a loss to the Chicago Bears and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams with a final score of 35-16 in their first of back-to-back London games. The Jaguars’ lone win came just two weeks ago in a close divisional win against the Indianapolis Colts. They’ll likely be without Travis Etienne this week.
New England Patriots vs Jaguars Preview and Predictions video
New England Patriots vs Jacksonville Jaguars Preview and Predictions
Brian Thomas Jr Over 53.5 Receiving Yards (-115)
The young rookie receiver out of LSU has quickly become Trevor Lawrence’s favorite target this season. Over the last four Jaguars games, Thomas has an average of 8 targets per game, averaging almost five catches per game. Thomas also has massive big play ability. He has longest catches of 85, 66, and 32 yards in three of his five games.
#Jaguars Brian Thomas Jr ranks 2nd in the NFL with 225 Deep (20+) Receiving Yards per PFF.
BTJ on Deep Balls:
10 TGTs, 5 Recs, 225 Yards, 2 TDs
pic.twitter.com/UAEPMO6FKj— Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) October 16, 2024
The Patriots defense also hasn’t been able to slow down the other team’s best options. Last week against the Texans they allowed 77 yards to Stefon Diggs and another 57 to Tank Dell. Tyreek Hill had 69 yards against them even with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. Juwan Jennings had 88 yards, while DK Metcalf went for 129 while teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba had another 117.
New England Patriots +5.5 (-108)
Neither of these teams have proven to be very good through the first six weeks of the season. The Jaguars have the home field advantage in the sense that they are used to playing in London, but we saw how that went last week. And they played there last week so they’ve had extra time to adjust to being overseas.
After that, the reasons for taking them as a 5.5-point favorite ran out. Not that there are very many reasons to love the Patriots as underdogs either, as they haven’t looked the part this season. They have been able to keep games close though, and that’s all we’re looking for. They won Week 1 against the Bengals, took the Seahawks to overtime, and kept the Dolphins game close all the way to the end.
