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The Jacksonville Jaguars season has not gone as hoped. The owner Shahid Khan brought in Urban Meyer to take his first ever NFL head coaching position. They also drafted Trevor Lawrence #1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. Running back James Robinson was coming off a break out season where he put up over 1,400 yards from scrimmage, with 10 touchdowns. This was supposed to be a step forward for the team, not only in the wins and losses, but with the look and feel of the team.
On Sunday, the Jaguars were shut out by their division rival, Tennessee Titans, 20-0. The loss dropped them to 2-11 on the season and into last place in the AFC South. Hilariously, they are actually tied with the Houston Texans at 2-11, but lost to them back in Week 1.
Speaking of the Texans, that is the Jaguars opponent in Week 15. It's a crucial matchup in will go a long way in determining who gets the #2 pick in next years NFL Draft. The loser could even end up with the #1 pick if Detroit wins another game.
Here are the 3 key takeaways from the embarrassing shut out loss to the Titans.
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Jaguars Week 14 Takeaways
3. The Jaguars defense is better than people realize
The Jacksonville Jaguars are not a good football team. That is obvious. But their defense is much better than most people realize.
Despite their quarterback throwing four interceptions, and the Jaguars offense only putting up 192 yards of total offense, they were still in the game in the 2nd half. With three minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, they trailed 10-0. They just needed a drive, a score, some spark of life.
Sadly, the offense could not deliver and eventually the defense gave up another score, finishing 20-0. But the defense held the Titans to 263 yards and sacked Ryan Tannehill four times. The defense did their job Sunday.
2. Urban Meyer is in over his head
Urban Meyer is a college coaching legend. He is one of the very few coaches in college whose team stood toe to toe with Alabama and took it to the Crimson Tide with championship implications on the line. That prompted Jaguars owner Shahid Khan to bring him to Jacksonville.
It was the clear next step in Meyer's career. He had dominated at the college level, then worked in television at FOX Sports for a few years, but now it was time to prove he could lead men. The problem is, that might be in his character.
Leading and coaching young men in college is very different than coaching in the NFL. There are different types of coaches. Some are old school, no-nonsense guys like Tom Coughlin. Others are players coaches, like Andy Reid. Success as an NFL head coach is not a one-way road. But there are certain things all head coaches need to do. That includes falling on the sword when things are not going well.
Two weeks ago, Meyer benched his running back James Robinson for fumbling for the second straight week. There's nothing wrong with that decision. Bill Belichick does that all the time.
When speaking to the media after the game, he announced it was his assistant coaches decision. Then, after this week's embarrassing loss, reports surfaced that Urban Meyer had lost most, if not all of the support in the locker room. He had threatened his assistant coaches with their job security, calling them “losers” and questioned their credentials.
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Apparently, Meyer is even unaware of his own players time on the field.
#Jaguars HC Urban Meyer was asked about Andre Cisco playing more (again). He said “Cisco is playing a little bit more, I believe, I don’t have his numbers in front of me”
Cisco played 0 defensive snaps yesterday.
— Demetrius Harvey (@Demetrius82) December 13, 2021
The season is a disaster and getting worse with every day that passes. It's unknown whether or not Meyer will survive the rest of the season. But for a guy brought in for his offensive mind, the Jaguars have arguably the worst offense in football.
1. Trevor Lawrence is not getting better
Every scout, coach and fan in America thought that Trevor Lawrence was going to be a super star. He had led Clemson to a National Championship, breaking records along the way. He dropped 40+ points on Alabama not once, but twice in his career. He was as sure a thing as there could be entering the league.
Well, he is 13 games into his career and he does not appear to be progressing.
Lawrence is coming off probably his worst game as a pro. He went 24 for 40 for 221 yards and four interceptions in the shut out loss. The Jaguars offense was completely anemic.
DART from Trevor Lawrence. Can’t teach this kinda stuff https://t.co/572xGFxO6U
— NYJ Matt (@NYJ_Matt) December 12, 2021
For the season, Lawrence has thrown 9 touchdown passes to 14 interceptions, completing only 58% of his passes. Now maybe I am being unfair. Rookie quarterback Mac Jones has set a very unfair bar, and Lawrence is not playing with a ton of talent around him.
But I would hope to see improvement over the course of the season. It doesn't look like it's getting any better.
