JACKSONVILLE – This was a big-time response, with a trademark dose of grit and grime.

The Jaguars threw in some timely flash, too.

Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdowns and the Jaguars combined a gritty, strong running game with grimy, big-play defense to pull away for an early-season victory Sunday – 35-6 over the defending AFC Champion New England Patriots at EverBank Stadium.

“It was the response we were looking for,” Head Coach Liam Coen said, with wide receiver Parker Washington adding. “How we responded was the best part.”

“We attacked this week, focused in on just the response and focused in just on practice, and Liam said we were ready, and we were ready,” Washington said.

The Jaguars needed this one after their first loss of the 2026 season, and they got it in impressive fashion – never trailing and removing Lawrence before game’s end for the second time in three games to start the season.

“I thought we played really well,” said Lawrence, who completed 19 of 29 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. “We were just ready to play. We had a great plan. Guys were flying around. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about, the players executing the plan.

“You have to have a good plan and I feel like we did, but it’s about us going out there and owning it and playing fast and attacking and I thought we did all those things today.”

The Jaguars (2-1), after losing a 13-3 third-quarter lead in in a 20-13 road loss to the Denver Broncos last week, won a sixth consecutive regular-season home game and lead the AFC South by a game over the second-place Indianapolis Colts (1-2). Houston and Tennessee are both 0-3, with the Colts beating the Texans Sunday.

“We wanted to learn from our lessons from last week,” Jaguars nose tackle DaVon Hamilton said. “We needed to learn how to finish a game. That’s what we did today. That’s the culture of our team as a whole.

“We’re not going to win every single game, but we can learn from anything. That’s what we did today.”

Added Hamilton, “It’s always critical. You try to win every game you go out here and play. This was no different.”

Lawrence’s two first-half touchdowns – to wide receivers Josh Cameron and Jakobi Meyers – gave the Jaguars a 14-3 halftime lead, with the Jaguars scoring two third-quarter touchdowns in 18 seconds to enter the fourth quarter with a 25-point lead.