Who was it that had the famous quote about a lie spreading halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on? Mark Twain, right?
The same can be said for a rumor that is started in the Washington Redskins’ fanbase, and that’s exactly what took place on Sunday morning before the Redskins hosted the Philadelphia Eagles in their second-to-last home game of the season.
When the team was on the field warming up before kickoff, a report surfaced that former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was in attendance at FedEx Field, and he was to be watching the game from Dan Snyder’s owner’s box, alongside Alex Smith, his former QB at Utah.
This got the rumor mill up and running like nothing else has this year for Redskins fans.
Before we knew it, Urban Meyer had already been named by fans as the leading candidate for Washington’s vacant head coaching position, and by halftime, he’d basically accepted the job, depending on who you ask. However, rookie wide receiver Terry McLaurin — who played for Meyer at Ohio State last year — said that none of this was true when asked about it after the game.
In a piece from The Athletic, McLaurin cleared up the situation:
McLaurin said his former head coach didn’t even know Washington had a home game Sunday, but when he found out, he wanted to see his former Buckeyes players, McLaurin and Dwayne Haskins. He asked if there was anything McLaurin could do to help him get in, so McLaurin made some calls.
“He’s not a candidate” for Washington’s job, McLaurin said. “He just came here to support me and Dwayne.”
Dwayne Haskins, the Redskins rookie QB who also played under Meyer in 2018, said after the game that he wasn’t even aware that his former coach was watching from the box, but he accredited his career performance to Urban’s presence.
If you ask McLaurin though, that’s about all Meyer’s appearance brought on Sunday; good vibes and a friendly meeting between former players and coaches. As for all of those coaching rumors that accompanied him as well? It might be safe to do away with those, for now.
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