Jaguars get high mark for Week 7 win vs. Patriots as they keep their season afloat

The Jacksonville Jaguars avoided catastrophe when they beat the New England Patriots in Week 7. While it wasn't perfect, they showed that they aren't ready to wave the white flag. John Breech of CBS Sports is certainly impressed with the resolve the Jags showed and graded them accordingly.

Breech assigned grades to all teams who played in Week 7 and gave Jacksonville an A, pointing out that they showed out in all three phases of the game.

"Spending an entire week in London seems to have fixed all of Jacksonville's problems or maybe it was playing the Patriots, but whatever the reason, the Jags looked like the team that everyone was expecting to see when the season started. "

Later in the article, Breech argues that head coach Doug Pederson's seat has cooled down for at least one game. He isn't wrong.

Pederson's job security or lack thereof has been a topic of discussion due to the team's underwhelming performance in 2024. Working in his favor is that the Jags have won two of their last three games, which has effectively taken some pressure off his shoulders.

Circling back to Jacksonville's performance against the Patriots, Trevor Lawrence, return specialist Parker Washington, and running back Tank Bigsy all showed out.

Lawrence is once again playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the league after struggling early in the season. In Week 7, he completed 75 percent of his throws for 193 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. His statline would've been even better if it weren't for a few drops.

On the other hand, Bigsby had his second 100-yard game of the season and played a massive role in wearing the Patriots' defense down, which led head coach Jerod Mayo to call his team soft after the game.

Thomas, for his part, continued to turn heads, hauling in five passes for 89 yards with one touchdown. On top of that, Parker Washington also made his presence felt with a 96-yard return for a touchdown.

The defense didn't make nearly as many plays as the offense or the special teams but did its part. After giving up 10 points in the first quarter, they allowed just six more the rest of the game.

The Jacksonville Jaguars aren't giving up despite steep hill ahead

The Jacksonville Jaguars deserve credit for not throwing in the towel just one game after Andre Cisco said that some of his teammates had quit and head coach Doug Pederson stated that the team was in need of a culture change.

You could make the case that the Jags beat the lowly Patriots, but the truth is that nobody would've batted an eye if they had lost. Pederson for his part, was pleased with the team's performance and hopes it can build off of it.

"We've got to duplicate it, we got to duplicate the energy. We got to duplicate what we did over here," Pederson told the press corps after the win. "This week in practice has been one of our better weeks of practice. And we've got to be able to carry this all the way back and do it again. That's what this league is. It's a short-term memory. You try to go 1-0 each week, but I thought the guys really handled themselves, professionally while we were here for the 10 days."

The bottom line is that nobody will crown the Jaguars for beating New England, but they showed up and delivered in what amounted to be a must-win game. They deserve recognition for it.

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