[ad_1]
Urban Meyer may be gone, but based on the Jaguars’ result from the weekend, his stench still remains. (Or maybe the stench is just coming from the franchise itself.)
In their first game since Meyer was fired on Thursday following a year’s worth of incessant drama, Jacksonville lost at home, 30-16, to the 3-11 Houston Texans. The Jags were 5.5-point favorites heading into the game, with sportsbooks suspecting that they would play better with Meyer away from the team — the “dead coach bounce,” if you will.
It did not work out. The Jaguars would lose by double digits to their AFC South rivals, who were starting rookie third-rounder Davis Mills at quarterback and currently rank 30th in the NFL in total DVOA. With the Lions stunning the Cardinals, Jacksonville (2-12) is now in position to pick No. 1 overall in the draft — again.
It was bad for Jacksonville from the get-go. After forcing Houston into a punt on their opening drive, a Jaguars player was called for illegal hands to the face on the punt play, giving Houston a fresh set of downs. The Texans responded by scoring a touchdown on a pass play to Brandin Cooks.
Jacksonville drove down the field on their opening possession but settled for a field goal. On the next play, the Texans’ Tremon Smith took the kickoff 100 yards to the house — the team’s first kick return touchdown in over a decade.
It would be much more of the same after Houston took that 14-3 lead. Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars’ prized No. 1 overall pick quarterback, didn’t look demonstrably better with interim coach Darrell Bevell at the helm, completing 22 of 38 passes for 210 yards and no touchdowns. Lawrence has only thrown one touchdown over the past seven games, and only nine on the year compared to 14 interceptions.
The defense also looked just as miserable as before, allowing Houston to reach 30 points for just the second time this season. The first time? In Week 1 — also against these same Jaguars.
There’s no question Urban Meyer had to go after a brief, disastrous tenure as head coach. Not only did the Jaguars struggle to a 2-11 record under his watch, but he was also involved in countless off-field distractions — notably when a video surfaced that featured a woman, who is not Meyer’s wife, dancing on his lap at an Ohio bar. He also feuded with players and coaches, reportedly calling a number of his assistants “losers,” and was accused of physically kicking ex-Jaguars placekicker Josh Lambo.
Still, anyone expecting the team’s problems to suddenly go away once Meyer was canned was likely the victim of wishful thinking. Sunday proved that whoever takes over as head coach still has a lot of work to do to get this team back to relevance.
[ad_2]