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I’m tired. So, so tired. I haven’t slept since I don’t know when.
Well, since Saturday, actually, when those videos started going viral.
There’s one person to blame for this insomnia. For these bags under my eyes. For my struggles to get through another day on the job with no energy and even less hope.
That person is Urban Meyer.
You see, I live in Jacksonville, Fla., home of the Jaguars and Mr. Meyer. Just a few weeks ago after the Jags fell to 0-2, the coach with the absolutely frightening coffee table made a passionate plea to people living in Jacksonville, saying:
“Hang in there with us. We’re going to get better. The one thing about Jacksonville and the 904, go to sleep knowing there’s not going to be any group working harder to get this thing flipped.”
The quote was so powerful – and so unnecessary, it was just Week 2! – that the team’s social media folks made a special graphic for it and tweeted it out. Sure, it was instantly made fun of by everyone but that night I was able to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep knowing that Urban was going to be hard at work turning this team around.
A message for #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/fmB3RGRexX
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 20, 2021
And then those videos went viral.
Ugh.
After falling to 0-4 just two weeks after telling us here in the 904 that nobody was going to be working harder than him to turn this thing around, Meyer let his team fly home without him from Cincinnati so he could spend some time with his grandkids in Ohio.
Former Colts kicker Pat McAfee said yesterday that a coach not flying home with his team is one of the wildest things he’s ever heard of and I have to think other players, including a bunch who currently play for the Jaguars, probably agree with that. It’s a bananas move by any coach but especially by a first-year coach who recently said he was going to be working really hard to turn this thing around.
Meyer, however, wanted to see his family and spend some quality time with those who are close to him, which is fine if you’re in any other field than coaching a winless football team in the middle of a NFL season.
The coach saw his grandkids and then ended up in a bar where people shot videos with their phones of Meyer sitting in a chair while a young woman – who wasn’t his wife – danced very close to him. Meyer sat there, seemingly content with the world and not appearing to be thinking at all about the Tennessee Titans, who the Jags face this Sunday.
The videos were not good at all and by bedtime Saturday night the coach had gone viral for all the wrong reasons… and I lay in bed for the first of what will likely be many sleepless nights.
Yesterday Meyer spoke to the press about the incident and how he apologized to his team for being “stupid” and becoming a distraction. He said he was at dinner with his grandkids and then some people at a bar next door had him come over for photos and that they tried to pull him out onto the dance floor and that they were “screwing around” and that he should have left.
The videos don’t show anyone trying to pull him to the dance floor but whatever, the coach said what he said and we (don’t) have to believe him.
Meyer also said he apologized to his family, who were not that happy with him at all.
But he didn’t apologize to the fans or the people of Jacksonville, who must feel as tired as I do on this Tuesday morning. Remember, this all comes just two weeks after he told us all that we could sleep well knowing they were on the case of fixing a franchise that hasn’t won a game since Week 1 of last year.
Since Week 1 of last year!
Yesterday ESPN’s Marcus Spears and Dan Orlovsky went on TV and called for Meyer to lose his job ASAP. It’s hard to argue against that considering all the embarrassing moves the rookie coach has pulled since becoming the head coach of this bad franchise.
But I just want to be able to sleep again and I don’t know when that is going to happen because if Meyer remains the coach, how can I or anyone else in the 904 put our heads on our pillows at night and trust that he is breaking down game film and devising a plan to actually win a game?
I’m so tired. So, so tired.
I’m also so sick of being called “ol baggy eyes” by friends and family. It’s rude and hurtful and makes it tough for me to even look in the mirror each morning when I get out of my dumb, sleepless bed.
Thanks, Urban. Thanks a lot.
Quick hits: Ridiculous taunting call in ‘MNF’ game… Gruden not impressed with Sofi Stadium weather delay… Broncos coach rips Ravens… And more.
– NFL fans roasted the league again for its dumb taunting rules after Raiders tight end Darren Waller was flagged for a dumb taunting penalty.
– Speaking of “MNF,” Jon Gruden and NFL fans were confused by the weather delay to start the game.
– Broncos coach Vic Fangio ripped the Ravens for their final play call and it’s really hard to feel bad for Vic Fangio.
– Here are 10 spectacular photos of Bubba Wallace celebrating his first NASCAR Cup Series win.
– This one stat about Matt Ryan’s time with the Atlanta Falcons is so sad.
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