Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Trevor Lawrence were not seeing eye-to-eye on a key play call after Sunday’s loss.
The Jaguars were trailing 31-19 against the Tennessee Titans with about 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter and faced a key moment. They were facing a fourth and goal on the Titans’ 1-yard line, and set themselves up to go for it knowing a touchdown would make it a one-score game.
Instead of using Lawrence on a quarterback sneak, the Jaguars handed off to Carlos Hyde, who was stuffed for a three-yard loss.
Meyer was asked after the game why the Jaguars didn’t opt to use Lawrence on a sneak at that point. Curiously, the coach said Lawrence wasn’t comfortable enough with the play, and the Jags had not practiced it enough.
That explanation sounded curious to say the least. When the question was put to Lawrence, the quarterback admitted he hadn’t run it in an NFL game yet, but he was perfectly comfortable doing it.
It’s not a particularly good look for Meyer. A quarterback sneak is a pretty basic play, and if he really thinks the team isn’t capable of executing it in a game, it indicates he’s the one who hasn’t adequately prepared it. The fact that his franchise quarterback is willing to publicly dispute him isn’t good either.
It’s fair to wonder how much control Meyer has over his team right now in light of the controversy he sparked last week. This might provide further evidence that reports such as this one have some truth to them.
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