LONDON, England – "We have to start games faster, and that is definitely a point of emphasis this week."

That's what New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters on Wednesday ahead of their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

And clearly the extra practice on this particular part of the game worked. On the Patriots opening drive, Drake Maye went 6-for-7 for 62 yards, and he finished it off with a touchdown pass to JaMycal Hasty. 

“We've been preaching fast start. They want us to start fast. Last week we didn't do it. We did that today," Maye said at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. "We just didn't sustain it long enough.

“I think other than maybe one or two other games this season, we haven't started fast in a while," Maye added. "Kind of something new for us. Proud of the guys for starting fast.

On the Patriots opening drives in the six games prior, they were forced to punt every time. 

– vs. Bengals – 5 plays, 25 yards 
– vs. Seattle – 3 plays, -1
– vs. Jets – 3 plays, 1 yard
– vs. Niners – 9 plays, 24 yards
– vs. Dolphins – 3 plays, -5 yards
– vs. Texas – 3 plays, 1 yards

But this game was different. 

And then, on the following offensive drive, the team was able to get into field goal range, and Joey Slye put an additional three points on the board. 

After that, the Jaguars scored 25 unanswered points. 

“I think at the beginning of the game we did a good job of starting fast. I think it's about sustaining momentum," wide receiver K.J. Osborn said. "Big plays, turnovers on either side. When you get that, we talk about when it goes your way, when it goes the opposite way. 

"You got to be able to fight back when that stuff is not going your way. We had at the beginning, but then we kind of lost it. So, we got to fight back.”

The Patriots attempted a comeback when Maye located Osborn for a 22 yard touchdown. But the two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful, which meant that it was still a two-score game.

However, this happened in the fourth quarter. 

So for two full quarters, the team wasn't able to get anything going offensively. And on the defensive side, they were letting the Jaguars run all over them. 

The team learned that a fast start is possible, but they just need to work on sustaining it going forward.