Jaguars defense led by DaVon Hamilton, interior line dominance over Patriots

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense had some shaky moments on Sept. 27 during a 35-6 victory over the New England Patriots at EverBank Stadium.

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye led four first-half possessions into Jaguars territory, then drove the offense early in the fourth quarter from his 1-foot line to the Jaguars' 16, completing 4 of 4 passes for 73 yards.

He also had early success connecting with tight end Mack Hollins (six receptions, 87 yards).

But the Jaguars kept making crucial plays to keep the Patriots out of the end zone and Maye helped the process with several head-scratching mistakes.

The underlying storyline was the performance of the Jaguars' interior defensive front, especially veteran DaVon Hamilton.

Hamilton leads run defense, recovers fumble

Hamilton, perhaps the lone defensive

bright spot in last week's 20-13 loss at Denver, had five tackles, collaborated with Bryan Thomas Jr., for a sack and recovered a bizarre fumble by Maye. In the process, the Jags kept bending but never allowed New England to score a touchdown.

The key stats: the Jaguars allowed New England only 83 yards on the ground (3.2 yards per attempt, with a long run of 9 yards), allowed only four of 12 third-down conversions, collected three turnovers and had three sacks, with 1.5 by Hamilton and his backup, Ruke Orhorhoro.

The Jaguars defense also ran their streak to 20 consecutive games of not allowing an opposing running back to gain 100 yards. New England's combination of TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamandre Stevenson combined for 45 yards on 15 carries and never had a gain longer than 5 yards.

Jaguars interior line dominated Patriots

"We played pretty stout today," Hamilton said. "We could have gotten after the quarterback a little more, but we were playing hard today. We talk all week about winning the turnover margin and we went out and did that."

Orhorhor had six tackles and Arik Armstead held his own in forcing the Patriots to try to bounce runs outside -- where edge Josh Hines-Allen (five tackles) and linebackers Ventrell Miller (a team-high seven tackles) and Foye Oluokun (six) were waiting.

Jaguars coachLiam Coen said when the Jags' big men are able to make plays and draw double-teams, defense is a bit easier.

"D-Ham, again ― I thought he might have played last week one of the best games I've ever seen from a nose tackle personally, and then this week, to follow it up the way he played, how selfless he is but also how difficult he is to game plan for," Coen said. "If you want to run at our edges, it's a challenge with Josh and Travon [DE Travon Walker] and Arik and those guys on the edge, but then you try to run up the middle on us and you got D-Ham and Dickerson [DT Matt Dickerson]."

Hamilton fumble recovery the first big play

Hamilton's fumble recovery was the first huge play of the game for the defense. Maye led the Patriots to a first down at the Jags' 35, but when dropping back to pass, the ball simply slipped out of his hands. Maye later blamed the fact that center Jared Wilson bled on the football.

Hamilton could hardly believe his good fortune.

"I was a little surprised," he said.

The Jags got a team sack for minus 7 yards, and Maye would go on to give the ball up twice more, throwing an interception to Travis Hunter in the end zone in the second quarter after New England had first-and-goal at the Jags' 5 (it was Hunter's first career interception) and Jarrian Jones' pick late in the third period.

Ruke Orhorhoro emerges

The game turned in by Orhorhoro, a free-agent signing in the offseason, wasn't a surprise but it was certainly welcomed. He had only one assisted tackle in the Jags' first two games but finally showed against the Patriots what the Jaguars have been expecting out of him — a competent backup to Hamilton, in his seventh NFL season.

"I thought Ruke did some really good things today as well," Coen said. "It's a challenge. When you can stop the run effectively, you earn your ops to go rush the passer. You earn your ops to go and disrupt and affect the quarterback, and I think we were able to do that today."

Orhorhoro said the defensive front play was a collaborative effort, necessary because of the way the Jaguars rotate their big men in the middle.

"Big Ham, Arik, Dickey [Dickerson], all those guys in the room, including myself, want to go out there and be a dominant force," said the third-year player from Clemson. "Stop the run and earn the right to rush the pass."

Armstead also cited the rotation and teamwork.

"I'm surrounded by some great players, some great teammates," Armstead said. "It's going to keep getting better and better."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars defense led by DaVon Hamilton, interior line dominance over Patriots