Jacksonville’s game on Sunday against the division rival Tennessee Titans was a bit overshadowed (perhaps for the best, as the Jags lost 20-0, getting blanked for the first time since 2009) by a report released by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on Saturday morning.
In that piece, Pelissero reports that Meyer’s relationship with both players and his assistant coaches has been fractured in recent weeks. Among the most shocking aspects of his report are the allegations that he called his assistants “losers” while painting himself as a winner and asking them to defend their track records as coaches.
He also reportedly got into an argument with veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. and lied to the media about the benching of running back James Robinson. That decision was blamed on running backs coach Bernie Parmelee, but per Pelissero, it was Meyer’s call.
Meyer told FOX’s Jay Glazer heading into the game that he believes he still has the full support of the ownership, and he reiterated that position during his postgame press conference after Sunday’s loss to Tennessee. He also denied getting into a heated altercation with Jones and using the word “losers” to describe his assistant coaches.
“Yeah, calling someone a loser, that’s inaccurate,” Meyer said .”I have high expectations for our coaches. I’m very demanding of our coaches and expect guys to be held accountable for their positions, and the times when they’re not, we address it. But I assure you there was not whatever report — Amy (Palcic) told me something about that. That’s nonsense.”
And then the other — oh, Marvin Jones. Marvin Jones had a conversation because he came to me and said that there was something in the media, and I said, what’s that, and I didn’t read it, and he said that people were blaming the receivers for all the issues on offense. And I went back and I looked at it, and it was about — I think I said something like we have some injury issues and some lack of consistency. We talked about that, and he’s great. We moved on, and he just — one thing about Marvin (Jones), and there’s a lot of players, especially these professional veterans, there’s a lot of pride.”
When discussing any potential leakers who could have spoken to Pelissero for his report, Meyer had his strongest words (which were also vaguely threatening).
“You watched out there today, Myles Jack and that defense and some of those kids, Roy (Robertson-Harris), (Dawuane) Smoot, those guys are playing their tails off,” Meyer said about the team’s effort and morale. “You get a couple scores on offense, you’re right there, and we didn’t do it.”
So what’s the answer? Start leaking information or some nonsense? No. No, that’s nonsense. That’s garbage. That’s once again — I’ve been very blessed. I’ve not really dealt with that. I’ve not dealt with, ‘Well, did you hear what he said?’ What? No. Let’s improve on offense and get our quarterback in a position to be successful. That’s our focus. What someone’s brother said, or someone said someone said, that will occupy very little of my time. And if there is a source, that source is unemployed. I mean, within seconds, if there’s some source that’s doing that.”
Meyer is clearly frustrated that his first season as an NFL coach hasn’t gone according to plan, and if the report from Pelissero is accurate — its contents have been confirmed by the Florida Times-Union’s Gene Frenette — then it’s possible he won’t get a crack at a second season.
His tenure in Jacksonville has been plagued with controversy, beginning with his decision to hire Chris Doyle, who was fired from Iowa for allegedly making racist comments toward players, as a strength coach. He also became the center of national attention earlier this season, when his decision to not fly back with the team after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals resulted in a viral video of him dancing with a woman at a bar in Ohio.
The report from Pelissero demonstrates the most recent unforced error, and though Meyer seems to believe his relationship with owner Shad Khan remains strong, only time will tell if that remains the case after a tough loss where the offense was nonexistent.