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Urban Meyer’s time with the Jaguars hasn’t been the greatest of stints.
He’s had self-inflicted controversies to deal with. He brought in Tim Tebow for some reason and gave the former QB a shot make the team as a tight end. And Meyer was fined for breaking NFL offseason practice rules.
Again, all that happened before the real games began so there was some hope in Jacksonville that things would take a turn for the better once the season started.
But then the team went to Houston on Sunday to face the terrible Texans and things got worse. Things got way worse! The Jags trailed at halftime 27-7 and went on to lose by 16 points.
To the Texans!
Houston is supposed to be the worst team in the league by far this year and the Jags were the favorites going into the game and ended up getting blown out.
YIKES.
That’s a nightmare start for Meyer, who is trying to make the jump from college to the pros and who is learning that jump isn’t as easy as one would think. The NFL is a million times different than college football and things could continue to get even more ugly for Meyer.
The good news for the Jaguars is that rookie QB Trevor Lawrence threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns but again, that was against the terrible Texans and came mostly when the game was out of reach. He also had three interceptions.
You have to think Jags ownership is going to give Meyer a lot of time to figure things out. He’s a big name and the franchise made a big investment in him.
But you also have to think this is going to become more of a circus if they keep losing games, which they likely will, to start the season.
Turning around a NFL team that won just one game last year would be difficult for any coach. But Meyer isn’t just any coach and that’s why the pressure for things to get better more quickly is so high.
One would think things can only get better after Sunday’s loss in Houston because that has to be considered rock bottom.
But with each loss fans are just going to be making more fun of Meyer and they’re going to be making more jokes about him wanting to return to college football ASAP and you never want your franchise to be the laughing stock of the the NFL.
A win this coming Sunday at home against the Broncos would be a great way to quiet people down a bit and get the team feeling good about itself.
But man, a loss to Denver would only ramp things up even more, which wouldn’t be great at all for Meyer and the Jags.
Quick hits: NFL Week 1 Awards… Carolina’s wild mixed-fantasy panther wows fans… Joe Judge’s boneheaded mistake… And more.
– I’m back with my weekly NFL awards where I look at the good, the bad, and the hilarious from Sunday and this week I kick it off with Aaron Rodgers getting benched in an ugly loss to the Saints. His sad look after the game quickly became a meme.
– NFL fans were in awe of Carolina’s wild mixed-reality panther that jumped around the stadium. Seriously, this thing was nuts.
– Giants coach Joe Judge threw the challenge flag on a Broncos TD and forgot that you’re not allowed to do that and that you get a stiff punishment for doing that. Not great!
– Patrick Mahomes had such a pretty 5-yard TD run against the Browns on Sunday.
– Speaking of the Browns, safety Ronnie Harrison got ejected after shoving a Chiefs coach on the sidelines.
– Novak Djokovic had another embarrassing meltdown during his loss in the men’s U.S. Open final on Sunday.
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