Jaguars Fall to 0-8 in England

The NFL made its second trip of the season to England, and those seated in the historic Wembley Stadium were treated to a show. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick dazzled the audience as he threw one touchdown and ran for two more en route to a 42-10 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jacksonville came into the game tied with Tampa Bay for the league’s worst record, 0-7. Because the Jags’ bye week is slotted for next week, Jacksonville had a chance to regain sole possession of its last-place standing.

San Francisco started fast, driving 76 yards in 3:18 on the 49ers opening drive for a touchdown. They would keep that pace for most of the game; San Francisco had nine plays go for 15 or more yards, five of which eclipsed 20 yards.

Each team fumbled once, but while Jacksonville merely fell on the ball, San Francisco’s Dan Skuta returned Marcedes Lewis’ drop 47 yards for the game’s final touchdown.

Jacksonville quarterback Chad Henne had 228 yards and a touchdown through the air, passing with 64 percent accuracy. Maurice Jones-Drew carried the ball 19 times for 75 yards.

Henne was able to drive the Jaguars 61 yards as the first half wound down, but the drive stalled at San Francisco’s 20. Josh Scobee would kick a field goal, and the 49ers kneeled the ball to end the first half 28-3.

Jacksonville looked poised to start a comeback after Henne’s touchdown pass in the third to pull within three possessions. The 49ers would then call four straight running plays, gaining 54 yards and a touchdown to put the game out of reach.

“We had chances to do things,” Jones-Drew said. “We have a week off, so we’ll get some time to work through that and come back ready for whoever the next opponent is.”

Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said that evaluating the game was difficult due to how the big plays unfolded.

“On some of the things, it’s hard to say okay we need to tackle better; we missed some tackles,'” he said. “On the toss crack, not playing as aggressively as we wanted. Is that because of the scheme, or are guys retentive? For whatever reason, we did not play things correctly, and we need to find out why.”

The day was not a total downer for the Jags, though. The team enjoyed playing in front of a crowd of 83,559 people, most of whom waved giveaway Jaguars flags.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Henne said. “It was a really good experience for us.”

“That was the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of,” wide receiver Cecil Shorts said, “It was definitely exciting and fun to be out there.”

“We have to be grateful and thankful for this,” Jones-Drew said. “For me personally, coming where I came from, there probably would have been no way that I’d be overseas, seeing the things I’ve seen, without football.”

To hear what players and coaches said about the game, click below:

Gus Bradley, Jaguars Head Coach: “We got in the locker room at halftime …”

Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars Running Back: “We had chances to do things …”

Cecil Shorts III, Jaguars Wide Receiver: “It took us a while to get in a rhythm.”