Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Trevor Lawrence were not seeing eye-to-eye on a key playcall after Sunday’s loss.
The Jaguars were trailing 31-19 against the Tennessee Titans with about ten minutes to go in the fourth quarter and faced a key moment. They were facing a 4th and goal on the Titans’ 1-yard line, and set themselves up to go for it knowing a touchdown would make it a one-score game.
Instead of using Lawrence on a quarterback sneak, the Jaguars handed off to Carlos Hyde, who was stuffed for a three yard loss.
Meyer was asked after the game why the Jaguars didn’t opt to use Lawrence on a sneak at that point. Curiously, the coach said Lawrence wasn’t comfortable enough with the play, and the team had not done enough practice with it.
Urban Meyer on why no QB sneak for Trevor Lawrence from the six-inch line? "He’s not quite comfortable with that yet. I know that might sound silly, but if you’ve never done it, it’s something that we need to keep [working on] so that we can make that call in that situation."
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) October 10, 2021
That explanation sounded curious to say the least. When the question was put to Lawrence, the quarterback admitted he hadn’t run it in an NFL game yet, but he was perfectly comfortable doing it.
Lawrence: "No. I feel comfortable. Obviously I haven’t run it in a game, but I feel comfortable … no, QB sneak is something we can always get to and I feel comfortable with." https://t.co/uoxf3lr4Mp
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) October 10, 2021
It’s not a particularly good look for Meyer. A quarterback sneak is a pretty basic play, and if he really thinks the team isn’t capable of executing it in a game, it says he’s the one who hasn’t adequately prepared them. The fact that his franchise quarterback is willing to publicly dispute him isn’t good either.
It’s a fair question how much control Meyer has over his team right now in light of the controversy he sparked last week. This might provide further evidence that reports like this one have some truth to them.
