The Jacksonville Jaguars secured a vital 32-16 victory over the New England Patriots in front of a record 86,651 crowd at Wembley Stadium to conclude the NFL's 2024 trilogy of London games.
Both opponents were in desperate need of a win, with identical 1-5 records to start their seasons leaving them bottom of their respective divisions.
New England struck first, silencing hosts Jacksonville in the first quarter before the Jags exploded in the second, scoring 22 points with no reply, including Parker Washington’s 97-yard punt return for the longest touchdown in NFL international games history.
The hosts added three more in the third and while New England briefly narrowed the deficit in the fourth, they saw their chances slip away when Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby crossed late in the quarter for his second touchdown.
Eyes were on rookie Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who made his second NFL start and was good for 26 of his 37 pass attempts, throwing for 276 yards, including two touchdowns.
Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew into the game, completing 15 of his 20 pass attempts and throwing for 193 yards, including one touchdown.
Jacksonville won the toss and elected to defend first under soggy conditions, and New England struck first with 8:32 left to go in the first quarter with their first opening drive touchdown of the season.
Maye’s short pass found JaMycal Hasty on the right and the running back danced around the Jacksonville defence before scoring the 16-yard touchdown, with Joey Slye adding the extra point.
New England added to their lead less than 90 seconds after the start of the second quarter through Slye’s successful attempt at a 41-yard field goal to make it 10-0 for the visitors with their second possession of the contest.
Jacksonville began to build some momentum but made it more difficult on themselves when Lawrence scuffed a pass at first and seven.
The Jags gained just a single yard on the next down, but Lawrence made up for his earlier mistake on the third down, successfully picking out wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr, who caught the ball in the end zone with 9:25 to go in the quarter, Cam Little converting.
The Patriots were forced to punt on their next possession before Jacksonville took a first-time lead on the next drive, largely thanks to a brilliant 58-yard pass from their quarterback to find Thomas.
The Jaguars moved 14-10 in front when Bigsby powered through for his third rushing touchdown of the season, with Little again good for the extra point.
Momentum had swung in the hosts’ favour and they cushioned their lead in spectacular style.
Wide receiver Washington made it 20-10 through a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown – the longest in Jaguars history and that of international NFL encounters.
Jacksonville opted to attempt a two-point conversion after the Patriots were issued an offside penalty, Thomas collecting the extras from his quarterback’s pass to send his side into half-time with a 12-point advantage.
They might have wanted more from their opening drive to start the third quarter, failing to score a touchdown after two incomplete short passes from Lawrence and settling for a 21-yard field goal from Little to make it 25-10.
Jacksonville’s 15-point advantage remained intact as the sun came out for the final 15 minutes and the Patriots looked to brighten their afternoon.
They narrowed the deficit within nine points as a result of Maye’s 22-yard touchdown pass to KJ Osborn to make it 25-16 with 8:27 left in the quarter, but failed to execute their two-point conversion attempt.
Bigsby’s four-yard touchdown with 1:45 remaining, Little converting, consigned New England to a disheartening sixth straight defeat.
Back across the Atlantic, Jake Bates kicked a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining as the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-29 to move top of the NFC North.
The Vikings looked set to maintain their unbeaten record when Ivan Pace returned a fumble 36 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Jared Goff drove the Lions down the field to set up Bates for the decisive kick.
Jahmyr Gibbs had earlier rushed for two touchdowns, including one from 45 yards, as the Lions improved to 5-1.
Quarterback Geno Smith threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns as the Seattle Seahawks eased to a 34-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, a result which leaves both teams with a 4-3 record.
DK Metcalf caught a 31-yard touchdown pass in the first half and had 99 yards receiving in total, but suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter and was forced to miss the rest of the game.
Amari Cooper enjoyed a winning debut for the Buffalo Bills following his move from the Cleveland Browns, the wide receiver scoring a 12-yard touchdown with his first catch against the Tennessee Titans.
Josh Allen also threw a touchdown pass to Ty Johnson as the Bills cruised to a 34-10 win over the Titans, who failed to score a point in the second half.
Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered an Achilles injury late in the first half as the Browns suffered a 21-14 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Watson collapsed to the turf after attempting a run to the right and was initially replaced by Dorian Thompson-Robinson, only for Thompson-Robinson to suffer a finger injury in the fourth quarter.
Third-choice quarterback Jameis Winston connected with tight end David Njoku for a fourth-quarter touchdown but an onside kick attempt failed and the Bengals held on for the win.
Brandon McManus kicked a field goal on the last play of the game to give the Green Bay Packers a 24-22 win over the Houston Texans.
McManus made no mistake from 45 yards on his debut for the franchise after the Texans had taken the lead on their previous possession thanks to Ka'imi Fairbairn’s third field goal of the game.
Texans quarterback CJ Stroud passed for just 86 yards as he came under almost constant pressure from the Packers’ defence.
Anthony Richardson passed for 129 yards and rushed for 56 on his return from injury to help the Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins 16-10.
Richardson had missed the previous two games with an oblique injury but helped the Colts win their second straight game, with Tyler Goodson running for a score and Matt Gay kicking three field goals.
Saquon Barkley shrugged off boos from the New York Giants crowd to run 17 times for 176 yards and a touchdown as the Philadelphia Eagles cruised to a 28-3 win over Barkley’s former team.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts ran for two scores from a yard out in the second half and also hit AJ Brown with a 41-yard touchdown pass in the first half as the Eagles improved to 4-2.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was sacked seven times before being replaced in the fourth quarter.
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