Four ups, four downs from the Patriots’ dominant win over the Jaguars – CBS Boston

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) – In the previous two games, the “Four Ups, Four Downs” story after the game contained a lot more Downs than Ups. This week, the script is flipped, thanks to the miserable Jaguars visiting Foxboro.

While a win over the Jaguars is not a particularly extraordinary event, the Patriots undoubtedly delivered the most thorough beatdown that Jacksonville has suffered all year.

The Patriots put 50 points on the scoreboard, surpassing the previous season’s high of 37 points allowed by the Jaguars this year. The Patriots also held the Jaguars to just 10 points, their fifth-lowest output of the season. They also forced rookie QB Trevor Lawrence to throw three picks, which made for one of the worst days of his young career.

And a 5-10 victory in any match against any team is from July about always an impressive achievement, no matter what.

So as you might expect, this week’s edition will focus heavily on Ups. Finding more than one Down will be a challenge.

FIRE TI UPS

Kristian Wilkerson

Kristian Wilkerson celebrates his first touchdown of his career. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra / Getty Images)

Who does not love a happy story? Active for just his fourth NFL game, Kristian Wilkerson hauled down the first catch of his NFL career before catching his first NFL touchdown and then catching another touchdown.

Wilkerson was a training team this week where N’Keal Harry was a healthy scratch. With four receptions on 42 yards and two touchdowns, the 24-year-old took advantage of this opportunity in style.

Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson

Rhamondre Stevenson (Photo by Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)

Rookie-running Rhamondre Stevenson hit the 100-yard mark for the second time in his career, rushing 107 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

Damien Harris’ output was a bit more subdued, with 35 yards on nine carries. But he scored twice, bringing his season total to 14. That binds him to Curtis Martin for the second-fastest touchdowns in a season in Patriots history.

Myles Bryant, JC Jackson, Kyle Dugger

Like many 50 burgers, this one was driven by a high degree of turnover. These came through the election of Myles Bryant, JC Jackson and Kyle Dugger.

All three of the Patriots’ picks set them up to start on Jacksonville’s side of the field: first on the 33-yard line, then on the 43-yard line and then on the 1-yard line. All three drives ended with the Patriots touchdowns.

Dont’a Hightower, Christian Barmore

Dont’a Hightower fires Trevor Lawrence. (Photo by Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)

The Patriots only had two sacks, but both were big… in the sense that sacks can be big in a 50-10 win.

Hightower’s came on the second game of the game, with Jacksonville facing a second-and-3. Hightower waited patiently for Ja’Whaun Bentley to come in on a twist that took two blocks. Hightower blasted through the vacant spot in the line to take Lawrence down with a loss of nine yards. A short finish on third-and-12 led to an opening run three-and-out for the Jags.

Christian Barmores came just before the break and killed the Jaguars’ chances of increasing their score on the final move in the second quarter.

Teamwide execution

When the Patriots have been bad this year, they have made some bad mistakes. Whether it has been penalties or falls or not having enough people on the field or anything else, mistakes have been prevalent in all their losses.

In this the Patriots executed. They committed only three enforced punishments, and one of them was intentional. The team defeated the other two with a touchdown after Jakob Johnson’s team penalty and by forcing a punt after Myles Bryants questionable unnecessary rudeness.

The team also went 8-to-10 on the third down, a drastic difference from their 1-to-10 show in that division a week ago vs. Buffalo.

Even the Patriots’ lone punt was excellent, with Jake Bailey dropping one on the 9-yard line and the coverage team limiting the return to just three yards.

Mac Jones

Mac Jones (Photo by Maddie Malhotra / Getty Images)

It was not exactly the hardest day for QB, but the rookie was excellent while A) went up against his hometown team and B) faced the overall No. 1 pick in their first head-to-head.

Clearly, quarterbacks do not play against each other, but such matchups are always opportunities for QBs to bring a little extra to the table.

In this, Mac Jones was clearly the best QB on the field. He completed 22 of his 30 passes (73.3 percent) in 227 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, good for a pass rating of 128.1 – his second-best rating of the year.

With Lawrence going 17-to-27 in 193 yards with a touchdown and three picks on the other side, it was a good day to become number 15.

FIRE DOWN

PAT device

It was not a completely clean day on special teams as the PAT unit allowed a blocked kick in the third quarter.

Did it matter? No. Not in this one. But it provides something for Cam Achord and Co. something to work on this week.

This Play

Myles Bryant and Jalen Mills would definitely like to have another crack at it.

Brandon Bolden maybe?

The Patriots had to settle for a field goal because Brandon Bolden dropped a pass that would have easily moved the chains on a third-and-5 early in the fourth quarter. Given that the Patriots led 41-3 on the team, his teammates certainly got over this one pretty quickly.

But when you are dedicated to nitpicking, you simply have to pick a nit like this.

Injuries?

It does not appear that anyone has been seriously injured, but Adrian Phillips (wrist) and Damien Harris (hoarding) were injured under the root. Both players spoke to the media after the match, so that does not seem to be a real problem. But look, we reached the Four Downs after all.

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Editorial staff

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