The Jacksonville Jaguars faced plenty of scrutiny this offseason when they hired longtime college coach Urban Meyer as the team’s head coach for this season. Meyer was three years removed from his time at Ohio State, had zero head-coaching experience in the NFL and a wildly controversial past.
But he’s popular in Florida, the Jaguars are desperate and he got to start with No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence at quarterback. What could go wrong?
A lot … it turns out.
The Jaguars opened their 2021 season on Sunday against the Texans — another team expected to be at the bottom of the league. As bad as the Texans probably will be, the Jaguars looked far worse. Jacksonville converted just three times on third down. They punted six times. Lawrence threw three picks. And James Robinson — who rushed for 1,070 yards in his rookie season — was practically invisible with five rush attempts. It was an ugly 37-21 loss (and only that close thanks to a touchdown in the final seconds).
No wonder NFL fans roasted Meyer after the awful debut.
