The ‘hometown’ Jacksonville Jaguars continued their uneven run of results in London after capitulating to a driven Los Angeles Rams side in a soggy encounter at Wembley Stadium.

After the less-than-satisfactory fare at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between the Denver Broncos and New York Jets last weekend, it had been hoped that a matchup between two sides with winning records coming into the final London game of the 2025 International Series might provide more of a spectacle. That dream was dashed very early on, however, as the Rams raced into a three-touchdown lead before half-time and stifled a Jaguars offense that rarely seemed on the same page.

By the end of what slowly became a difficult watch, even for the most hardened of UK spectators, the Rams had taken their tally to 35 points — with Matthew Stafford throwing an International Series record five touchdown passes, and veteran receiver Davante Adams getting on the end of the three of them to become only the second player, after Jacksonville favourite Marcedes Lewis, to score such a hat-trick at the iconic stadium..

Adams came into the game as the expected prime target for his quarterback after the league’s leading receiver, Puka Nacua, was ruled out with injury. However, Stafford opened up by peppering his tight ends in the opening quarter. Ironically, only rookie Terrance Ferguson would get on the scoresheet, despite the plethora of passes headed the way of Colby Parkinson and Tyler Higbee early on. Fellow first-year Konata Mumpfield was on the end of Stafford’s other touchdown throw, opening the scoring at the end of the Rams’ first, 15-play, drive.

The first quarter followed a simple rhythm, as the Jaguars interspersed Rams touchdown drives by punting. Trevor Lawrence struggled to get his side moving as their two drives totalled fewer players than the Rams run that ended in Mumpfield’s score, and the Jaguars were undone again at the end of the opening period as Stafford found Adams from two yards out for the first of the receiver’s scores.

Things hardly got better for the Jaguars after the turnaround as, although they did force a Rams’ three-and-out, their own drives ended in another punt, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs, while Los Angeles increased their advantage with another short range score for Adams.

Three touchdowns behind at the half, and maybe a little wary of their kicker in the tricky conditions, Jacksonville opted to go for it on fourth down more often after the interval, but their luck seldom changed, with two more possession changes on downs preceding a couple of punts in a third quarter where neither side put any points on the board and even the Rams were forced to turn to Ethan Evans on four straight drives.

As the stadium began to see a slow trickle of spectators heading for the exits, things stepped up again in the final period, with Ferguson taking home a 31-yard pass from Stafford to make it 28-0 before the Jaguars finally got themselves some reward for their efforts. A lot of pregame chatter surrounded the possibility of rookie Travis Hunter getting his first NFL touchdown at Wembley, and the International Series gods decreed it so, with the two-way phenom snaring a 34-yard Lawrence pass as the Jags went no huddle in their haste to catch up.

It was a forlorn hope, however, as the Rams used up 16 plays and more than four minutes in going back down the other end, where Stafford found Adams for another short-yardage score to put the game beyond the imagination of even the most stout Jacksonville believers. The Jaguars went 51 yards in 15 plays on their final possession before handing the ball back to their opponents, allowing Rams’ backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo to lose three yards on successive kneeldowns to end the game.

The final score of 35-7 was eerily similar to the last meeting between the teams, back in 2021, when the Rams’ margin of victory was two points greater, and the Wembley win sends them into their bye week with a 5-2 record, coincidentally their best opening salvo since Stafford led them to Super Bowl success that same season.

For the Jaguars, who allowed Lawrence to be sacked seven times and conceded 119 yards in penalties, there is clearly work to do to end the up-and-down form they have shown this season, especially as their AFC South rivals Indianapolis comfortably despatched the other Los Angeles side, at SoFi Stadium, later in the day.