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Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence sounds ready to move on after the Thursday firing of former head coach Urban Meyer.
“I wouldn’t believe you if you told me this is how this year was going to go,” said the rookie, whose Jacksonville team is 2-11 this season.
” … I think it [the coaching change] brings a little bit of clarity to the guys in the locker room. I wouldn’t say relief, but I would say just bring some clarity and some direction moving forward.”
The Jaguars’ decision to fire Meyer came after a week of negative headlines tied to the controversial coach — including reports that he called his assistant coaches “losers” and got into a verbal spat with receiver Marvin Jones.
The most jarring headline came Thursday when former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo alleged that Meyer kicked him during a practice in August.
Lawrence admitted that the outside noise impacted the Jaguars on the field.
“You know, we really want to go and finish the season strong and to be honest, it’s been hard to last the last week with everything going on,” Lawrence said. “And there’s a lot of things being stirred up I think by the outside, too. That didn’t help [and] made things a lot worse, but also everything that’s going on. It’s hard to be focused and have all your attention and efforts going towards winning the game when there’s so many things going on.”
Lawrence spoke highly of the Jaguars’ new interim head coach, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.
“He’s very even keel. Always the same person never gets too high or too low. That’s something that I respect and that I can level with,” the former Clemson star said about Bevell, who served as interim head coach for the Lions’ last five games of the 2020 season.
“So I’d say that’s the biggest thing that we need right now. Someone that’s consistent and just to move forward and push past it.”
Lawrence, just hours before Jaguars owner Shad Khan announced Meyer’s dismissal Thursday, seemed fed up about the drama surrounded the team.
“So you can’t always be in the headlines. You just got to go play football and that’s where we’re trying to get and I have no doubt we’ll get there, but for sure [it has to change],” he said about the drama in Jacksonville.
The past week has been a microcosm of Meyer’s drama-filled NFL run since he was hired by Jacksonville in January.
After Meyer’s failed Tim Tebow experiment, the former Ohio coach came under fire for photos that showed him with a woman on his lap (who wasn’t his wife) while out at a Columbus bar.
The Jaguars play host to the Texans (2-11) on Sunday.
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