THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
It was apt that a day that saw two teams with losing records to their names coming to Wembley brought the worst weather out of the three games hosted in London this year. Then again it is late October in the United Kingdom and we should expect heavy showers, so we can’t blame the NFL for that, or indeed the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots.
The two teams, both at 1-5, were desperate for a win. Some feared that franchises with those records, coupled with the poor conditions, would be a recipe for a poor game. However, the opposite occurred, with some entertaining play that created a piece of NFL London history.
Under-pressure Jags coach Doug Pederson must have feared the worst after the first quarter. After a woeful performance last week at Tottenham, when the Chicago Bears had their way with the Jaguars, his side were down 10-0 early in the second quarter after being bossed around through the first 15 minutes of play. This was largely down to the very efficient play of Drake Maye, the Patriots quarterback starting only his second game of his young career.
Maye showed glimpses of what could be a good foundation for his future but the Jaguars moved more into the game with a high-powered run attack that took the pressure off an out-of-form Trevor Lawrence.
Tank Bigsby was the standout player, gaining 118 yards on 26 carries, with two touchdowns. The first of his scores put the Jags ahead during the second period, and the last cemented the 32-16 win. “Adversity shows real character,” Bigsby told reporters, “it shows who you can be and who you are. Today showed what this can be, let's keep going.”
“This is what our team can do,” Pederson said after the game. “We were down 10 but nobody was like, ‘here we go again,’ or defeated or had negative thoughts. It was just one play at a time.”
A real highlight was the first ever return for a touchdown of any kind of kick at a London game. Jags wide receiver Parker Washington fielded a well-positioned punt at the four-yard line and after breaking through the first line of tacklers raced away down the left sideline to take the wind out of the Patriots' sails. Jared Mayo, the New England coach, was clearly downbeat after the game as his team is now looking at a very rough second half of the season. “They controlled the ball for most of the day. Back to the drawing board. We can't sit here and pout.”
Indeed there is no time to sit and dwell, as the Patriots fly home and prepare for the visit of the New York Jets, while the Jaguars will host the Green Bay Packers. For now, the curtain has fallen on the London games, and even though none will be looked back on as real classics, they all had a different feel and purpose. We could have witnessed as many as three playoff teams, the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears look to be genuine contenders to extend their season into January. The flip side is that we may also have seen a team that could end up with the number one pick in next year's Draft. Sorry, Patriots fans.
