Patriots Head to Jacksonville Looking to Build on Dominant Defensive Start

Through two weeks, the Patriots defense has been the best part of this team by a pretty wide margin.

New England has allowed just one touchdown this season and completely shut down Pittsburgh last week. The Steelers managed only three points, and the Patriots have been especially good against the pass.

Christian Gonzalez gives New England the ability to match up with opposing receivers without constantly giving him help, which has opened up the rest of the defense. The Patriots have also been aggressive bringing pressure and trusting their secondary to hold up behind it.

Jacksonville should provide the toughest test yet.

Trevor Lawrence has started the season well, completing more than 67% of his passes for 434 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception through two games. It's been an encouraging start after some of the inconsistency we've seen from him at different points over the last few seasons.

Jacksonville also has plenty of weapons.

Parker Washington has gotten off to a strong start, Brian Thomas Jr. remains one of the most dangerous young receivers in football, and former Patriot Jakobi Meyers is now part of the mix.

The Jaguars also have Travis Hunter, who hasn't done much offensively through the first two games but is obviously someone New England needs to account for whenever he's on the field.

If this Patriots defense is for real, this is a pretty good opportunity to show it.

The defense has been great.

The offense hasn't.

Drake Maye and the Patriots haven't looked anything like the offense that was one of the best in football last season. There have been flashes, but New England hasn't consistently moved the ball or created the explosive plays we became used to seeing last year.

There are some legitimate reasons for that.

The Patriots lost Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte from last year's team and then lost A.J. Brown to an ankle injury just 31 snaps into his Patriots career. Romeo Doubs is still getting comfortable in the offense, and the offensive line has already dealt with injuries.

Still, eventually they need to figure it out.

New England's defense isn't going to hold every team to three points.

Jacksonville's defense struggled to generate pressure against Denver last week, finishing the game without a sack after recording five against Cleveland in Week 1. The Jaguars also allowed Bo Nix to throw for 288 yards and gave up several big plays through the air.

That should create some opportunities for Maye and this passing game.

The Patriots don't necessarily need him to throw for 350 yards and four touchdowns. They just need to start seeing more of the quarterback who was so good last season.

The Jaguars probably feel like they let one get away last week.

Jacksonville led Denver by 10 in the second half before getting outscored 17-0 the rest of the way. The Jaguars produced only 115 yards of offense after halftime and couldn't generate enough pressure on Nix when Denver started its comeback.

Now they come home looking to get back on track.

Lawrence has played well overall, and Jacksonville has shown enough offensively to make this a much different challenge than Pittsburgh was for New England.

The matchup I'm most interested in is Lawrence against the Patriots secondary.

New England's aggressive coverage has been outstanding so far, but Lawrence has the arm and Jacksonville has the receivers to make them pay if someone loses a matchup.

That gets even more interesting if Hunter starts seeing a larger role offensively.

New England enters the weekend dealing with a handful of injuries on both sides of the ball.

The good news is that the Patriots still have most of the core of their secondary available, which will be important against a Jacksonville offense capable of pushing the ball downfield.

The health of the offensive line is also worth watching.

New England needs to give Maye time to let some of these routes develop. If Jacksonville can generate the type of pressure it did against Cleveland in Week 1, the Patriots could have another frustrating afternoon offensively.

If the protection holds up, this feels like an opportunity for Maye and the passing game to finally get into a rhythm.

This feels like a pretty important early test for both teams.

Jacksonville wants to prove last week's second-half collapse was just a bad half of football. New England wants to prove its defense can play at this level against a better quarterback and a more talented group of weapons.

But I'm mostly watching the Patriots offense.

We already know this defense can keep New England in games.

If Maye and the offense can start looking a little more like the group we saw last season, the Patriots become a much more interesting team.

Three weeks is still a tiny sample.

But going into Jacksonville and putting together a complete performance would be a pretty good way to start.