Jacksonville Jaguars

The Patriots remained without a couple of their defensive starters at Thursday’s practice.

Linebacker Dre’Mont Jones (shoulder) and safety Craig Woodson (shoulder) missed practice for the second straight day. The Patriots also worked without linebacker Quintayvious Hutchins (knee) and tight end Eli Raridon (thigh) moved from limited participation to the sideline.

Fullback Reggie Gilliam (knee), right tackle Morgan Moses (foot), and safety Brenden Schooler (back) were limited participants. Offensive tackle Dametrious Crownover (knee), cornerback Carlton Davis (neck), and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (not injury related) fully participated in practice.

The Patriots will issue injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars after their Friday practice.

After a Week 2 win over the Steelers, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel didn’t want to have his Sunday “ruined” by questions about the performance of quarterback Drake Maye. Vrabel also didn’t seem to want to have his Wednesday ruined by them, either.

Asked during his midweek press conference whether the pendulum for Maye “maybe swung too far back in the other direction” from being overly aggressive in Week 1 against the Seahawks (when he had three game-killing fourth-quarter interceptions) to being too careful in Week 2 against the Steelers, Vrabel didn’t seem to be thrilled with the inquiry.

“Again, these are questions that I would like to answer on Monday,” Vrabel said. “I think I was willing to do that. The focus has got to be on Jacksonville and our performance. Whether it’s the pendulum — it’s being decisive in everyone’s play, but it’s certainly magnified with the quarterback. So being decisive, believing in what you see. Again, that’s what we ask all our players to do is prepare to try to play fast and aggressively and make great decisions. So, yeah, we could always say, ‘Man, we should have let that one rip,’ or ‘We’ve got to make a better decision.’ Ultimately, it’s his responsibility to be able to distribute the football as quickly and decisively as possible in the places that it’s supposed to go, continue not to force things and try to just create a next play on every single play.”

Maye’s midweek press conference opened with a question regarding the importance of not overthinking and playing freely on the field.

“One of the best things about getting new chances every week is having to let the other ones go,” Maye said. “That’s one of the best things about this sport and playing this position. You’ve got to let plays go, and you want to be attacking the next play, learning from the ones in the past and getting after the next one. So, I definitely think, this job, it’s hard to play this position when you’re thinking about a lot of different things, and you are going to be regardless. It’s going to be natural to think about motions, fronts, defenses, what our guys are doing, route concept and what they’re doing versus the play we have up. So, just thinking and trying to be instinctive. That’s one of the best things I learned in college is to be instinctive and try to play as fast as you can back there.”

Maye later was asked about Vrabel’s comments on the importance of decisiveness and believing what he sees.

“I think that goes back to playing instinctive, seeing it, trusting what I see in practice, trusting the decisions I’m making out there on the field,” Maye said. “I’ve never shied away from trusting something and letting it rip. So, just knowing what I’m seeing, seeing it in front of the guys, and at the same time, giving our guys a chance to make a play. Sometimes, when you do that, you end up forcing the football into decisions that you maybe want back by trying to give your guys a chance to go make a play. So, realizing that, and also keeping the chains moving is just as important to get those next chances to push the ball down the field.”

Through two games in 2026, something is off. To the extent passer rating matters, Maye’s has fallen from 113.5 in 2025 to 63.1 in 2026. He had 31 touchdown passes and eight interceptions last year. This year, he has one touchdown pass and four interceptions.

With upcoming games at Jacksonville and Buffalo, it’s an opportunity to turn the clock back a year. If not, an ugly early-season narrative could start taking root.

Sunday’s game between the Patriots and the Jaguars will be a tiebreaker, in two different ways.

First, Lawrence has a 1-1 record in his career against New England. Second, Lawrence has a 3-3 record against teams coached by Mike Vrabel.

Vrabel, who hasn’t faced Lawrence since the final game of Vrabel’s tenure in Tennessee (a 28-20 win by the Jaguars to cap the 2023 season), was asked by reporters on Wednesday what he has seen from Lawrence in recent years.

“I think he is just much more decisive and comfortable,” Vrabel said. “I think you could always count on some turnovers, maybe three or four years ago. I don’t think that is necessarily the case now. He has done a really fantastic job of being able to move the ball downfield, but keep it out of harm’s way. He’s decisive when he scrambles. It’s a guaranteed first down, if not longer, when he decides to scramble. Those aren’t even the designed run plays. Those are drop back passes that turn into play extensions, and he is either keeping his eyes downfield and hitting somebody, or he’s decisive and he is willing to scramble. So, I just see a lot of maturity, and he is playing at a high level.”

Lawrence could be counted on for a turnover (or two) into last season. After, however, a four-turnover day in a 27-24 overtime win over the Cardinals in Week 12 (three interceptions, one lost fumble), Lawrence settled down, considerably. Over the final six regular-season games of 2025, Lawrence had one turnover (an interception in Week 17 vs. the Colts) and 19 total touchdowns.

The trend continued into Week 1, when Lawrence had four touchdown passes and only five incompletions in a 34-10 win over the Browns.

Against the Broncos, Lawrence threw an interception in a 20-13 loss at Denver.

Lawrence was swept by Vrabel’s Titans as a rookie in 2021. The next year, Lawrence’s Jaguars swept Tennessee. In 2023, Vrabel’s final season with the Titans, they split the series, 1-1. In those six games, Lawrence had 13 total touchdowns and eight turnovers — including two games with four touchdowns and no turnovers and one game with no touchdowns and four turnovers.

Against the Patriots, Lawrence and the Jaguars lost badly in Week 17 of his rookie year: 50-10, with one touchdown and three turnovers. In 2024, Lawrence and the Jaguars beat New England, 32-16; he had one touchdown and no turnovers.

Obviously, any team has a better chance of winning if the quarterback takes care of the ball. For New England to get to 2-1, the Patriots will need to get Lawrence to make a mistake or two, and to keep him from scoring repeatedly with his arm or his legs.

Travis Hunter’s snap counts on both sides of the ball have been closely scrutinized since the Jaguars traded up to take him with the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and Week 2 was no exception on that front.

Hunter played cornerback on 60 percent of the defensive snaps and he was at wide receiver for 10 percent of the offensive snaps, which isn’t quite the role that most envisioned for him given how the Jaguars have touted his ability to make plays at both positions. During a Wednesday press conference, head coach Liam Coen was asked whether Hunter will see more time on offense against the Patriots in Week 3.

“Any time you struggle offensively, you look at the totality of it all,” Coen said. “Travis is a big part of that obviously. We’re looking at continuing to find different ways to get him involved. You’re also looking at the other side of the ball. . . . We’re gonna look at giving him some more this week.”

Coen called Hunter’s playing time “a balancing act that you’re continuously working through” and the Jaguars have yet to find the right formula to maximize Hunter’s impact on a weekly basis.

Jaguars cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter was a part-time player on defense and a bit player on offense in Sunday’s loss to the Broncos.

Hunter played 37 snaps (60 percent of the Jaguars’ plays) on defense, six snaps (10 percent) on offense and one play on special teams. Although the Jaguars have talked up the possibility of Hunter being a full-time player on both sides of the ball, he’s not even close to that. In fact, 17 different players on the Jaguars were on the field for more plays than Hunter’s total of 44 snaps.

On defense, Hunter’s highlights included four tackles, a pass breakup, and a 22-yard pass interference penalty. That penalty, and Jaguars coach Liam Coen’s penalty for arguing the call, set up a Broncos touchdown. On offense, Hunter never had the ball go his way.

Hunter said he accepts his role on the team.

“That’s the plan. Coaches tell me what I’ve got to do, I just follow their plan, follow their lead,” Hunter said. “My job is to go out there and play, no matter when they put me out there. That’s what I’ve got to do.”

What Hunter is doing so far is not living up to expectations as the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft.

The Broncos offense took a big step forward in the final quarter of Sunday’s home game against the Broncos.

After being limited to 16 points through the first seven quarters of the season, the Broncos found themselves down 13-3 to the Jaguars in the fourth quarter. They responded with a pair of touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to take a 20-13 lead over the Jaguars and then put together an impressive four-minute offense to run out the clock on their first win of the season.

Quarterback Bo Nix converted one third down with a 29-yard strike to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and rookie running back Jonah Coleman picked up another one with a 12-yard run that forced the Jaguars to use their final timeout. Coleman was pressed into duty with RJ Harvey inactive and J.K. Dobbins leaving with a hamstring injury, and the fourth-round pick came through with one more big run to allow the Broncos to run out the clock.

Coleman also scored the go-ahead touchdown run with 7:21 left to play. It was his first NFL score and he finished the day with 10 carries for 39 yards.

That score came after Jaguars kicker Cam Little missed a 54-yard field goal and the first Broncos touchdown came after cornerback Riley Moss picked off Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Waddle had two catches on that touchdown drive and finished the day with eight catches for 138 yards.

That’s the impact Denver was looking for when they traded for Waddle this offseason and it helped get Bo Nix on track after a bad interception in the end zone to kill a first half scoring chance. Nix finished 22-of-31 for 288 yards and a touchdown to tight end Nate Adkins.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, but the Jaguars got a touchdown to open the second quarter and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. They extended it to 13-3, but the interception and missed field goal opened the door for the Broncos. Denver’s defense forced a punt after Coleman’s touchdown put them ahead and the offense was able to slam the door.

That’s a good development for offensive coordinator Davis Mills and the Broncos will now turn their attention to a Sunday night game against the Rams. The Jaguars will try to stop the bleeding at home against the Patriots.

Jaguars head coach Liam Coen’s team lost its lead and Coen lost his cool just before the Broncos moved in front for the first time all day.

Coen was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with officials after cornerback Travis Hunter was flagged for defensive pass interference on a pass to Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. The Broncos were set to be at the 6-yard-line after the pass interference, so running back Jonah Coleman only had to go three yards on the next play for a touchdown.

The score has the Broncos up 20-13 with 7:21 left to play.

The Jaguars led this game 13-3 in the third quarter, so a failure to turn things back around should lead to a lot of other angry reactions around Coen’s team.

The Broncos have tied the Jaguars in the fourth quarter, but they may be down another running back the rest of the way.

J.K. Dobbins is questionable to return with a hamstring injury. RJ Harvey is inactive on Sunday, which leaves Jonah Coleman and Tyler Badie as the team’s available backs.

That setback did not keep the Broncos from finding the end zone for the first time in Sunday’s game. Bo Nix found tight end Nate Adkins for a touchdown to tie the game 13-13 with over 11 minutes left to play in Denver.

Adkins’s touchdown came after Broncos cornerback Riley Moss picked off Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars quarterback will have to be sharper to pull off a road win over the Broncos for the second straight year.

The Broncos ran six offensive plays inside of the Jacksonville 10-yard-line during the first half of Sunday’s game, but they don’t have much to show for it.

Three J.K. Dobbins runs from the 1-yard-line resulted in a loss of a yard and a field goal while a Bo Nix pass into the end zone late in the second quarter went for a Jourdan Lewis interception. The Jaguars moved the ball well after the turnover and got in position for a Cam Little field goal that sent them into the break with a 10-3 lead.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is 12-of-17 for 138 yards, but he’s been sacked twice to keep the Jaguars offense from fully catching fire. Parker Washington has six catches for 80 yards while Brian Thomas has three grabs for 40 yards.

Nix and Jaylen Waddle hooked up for a 49-yard gain to set up the three failed Dobbins runs. Waddle has four catches for 71 yards and Nix is 11-of-16 for 156 yards, but his mistake overshadows any positives halfway through this game.

The Jaguars got a win in Denver last season and they are on the board first in this year’s visit.

Bhayshul Tuten sprinted around the right side of the line after taking a direct snap and strolled into the end zone for a 1-yard score with 12:13 left in the first half. Cam Little’s extra point made it 7-0 for the road team.

The two teams exchanged five punts before the Jaguars put together their eight-play, 77-yard scoring drive. The biggest gain came on a 32-yard throw to wide receiver Parker Washington, who is up to three catches for 46 yards so far on Sunday.

The Broncos will now try to find their footing as they try to avoid an 0-2 start to the year.