By Hays Carlyon
Nothing worked.
Whatever deep dive into self-scouting Jaguars first-year coach Urban Meyer and his staff did during the bye week, it was worthless.
Meyer looked lost again as a head coach at this level as the unprepared Jaguars lost 31-7 at Seattle. Imagine how bad this game would’ve been had Seahawks star quarterback Russell Wilson been healthy enough to play.
Not that it mattered. Backup journeyman Geno Smith completed his first 14 passes, the most by any quarterback to start a game in the NFL this season.
There were penalties galore. The Jaguars committed a dozen for 93 yards. Many of them were operational (delay of game, illegal formation, too many men on the field). This was a similar lack of professionalism that Meyer’s team displayed in the galling Week 1 loss at pitiful Houston.
The offense stunk as well.
The Jaguars receivers dropped several passes and ran the wrong route on multiple occasions. The Jaguars were scoreless until quarterback Trevor Lawrence connected with Jamal Agnew with 1:49 to play in the game, making it 24-7.
Hilariously, Meyer elected to kick the extra point keeping the contest a three-score game. He then chose to on-side kick, which Seattle ran back 41 yards for a touchdown.
This is amateur hour stuff from a coaching perspective.
God bless the Miami Dolphins. Thank you for losing to this Jaguars team.
At 1-6, Meyer isn’t showing any real talent for this job. He and general manager Trent Baalke appear to have wasted much of the free-agent dollars and premium draft picks they inherited. Meyer has also not been able to do much with the lousy roster he inherited from the last failed regime.
There was no focus.
No energy.
And way too much self-destruction.
The Jaguars are a team that gives up an explosive running play and then gets called for taunting. Nice job, Rayshawn Jenkins.
Wasn’t Meyer known for being phenomenal with extra time to prepare in college? That hasn’t shown up so far.
It’s one thing to lose a close game at Seattle. That would’ve been disappointing with Wilson out, but to not be competitive?
That’s alarming.
The Jaguars also might have lost another key piece to the team. Running back James Robinson hurt his heel early in the second quarter and didn’t return. He was playing well (five touches for 39 yards) prior to exiting.
The Jaguars are already down receiver DJ Chark, center Brandon Linder, rookie running back Travis Etienne. Losing Robinson for any length of time will be crippling.
Lawrence is ahead of where he should be as a rookie, but he’s getting no help. It’s comical how bad the Jaguars receivers are. An A-list free-agent and high draft pick must be acquired this offseason to give Lawrence a real chance at sustained success.
Unfortunately, we will have to suffer through 10 more games of this. Improvement is needed everywhere.
That starts with the head coach, but he was hardly alone in this utter embarrassment.
(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @HaysCarlyon).
