Urban Meyer says Jags’ offensive struggles vs. Colts are on the unit as a whole, not a single individual
Fans came into Week 10 hoping that the Jacksonville Jaguars could acquire their first winning streak since 2019, but that was not the case. A big reason for that is because the team got off to a slow start and found themselves down by a score of 17-0 within the first three possessions.
The first few offensive possessions were particularly brutal as the Jags’ offense started the game with two three-and-outs and wasn’t in sync. This left many fans to wonder if those issues fell on the man behind center in Trevor Lawrence, as he’s struggled since the bye and hasn’t looked like the player fans saw Weeks 4-6.
However, Jags coach Urban Meyer shut those speculations down quickly by saying that the offensive unit as a whole was an issue.
“Of course, that thing gets time-tested, and I would be surprised if anyone ever said something different,” Meyer said. “Sure, people have off days, but when you struggle like we struggled in the first half, it’s certainly not a player and it’s certainly not a quarterback. And same thing when someone plays great—the first thing I always usually do is talk about the offensive line or the receiver that made that player look great. So, I know that’s a little bit not what people want to hear, but that’s actuality when you really watch. We had six penalties on offense, six. We had guys make some mental errors, we had a sack that shouldn’t have been a sack, someone had a missed assignment at the receiver position and it turned out to be a sack. So, yes, I think that’s time-tested.”
Meyer is right about the Jags not doing Lawrence any favors early in the game, they had two offensive penalties (holding and a false start) in the first quarter and one in the second quarter (holding). Receiver Jamal Agnew (who scored the first touchdown for Jacksonville) also had a drop around the seven-minute mark in the first quarter that would’ve been a third-down conversion. Add things like that in with some misses on Lawrence’s part and the inability for the receivers to get separation at times, and you have an offense that’s simply out of sync aside from the run game.
Meyer, Lawrence, and the staff also understand that there are some things that the rookie needs to improve on, too, and the backbreaking fumble he had at the end of Sunday’s game is a prime example. For those reasons, Meyer told the media that Lawrence isn’t exempt from the team’s issues and has to get better along with his teammates.
“No, I say ‘we’ and he’s part of the ‘we.’ We have to play better,” Meyer added. “The encouraging thing is, the second half, there was—that was a recipe of getting your tail kicked in and it came back. On the road, tough crowd, very good team. I was talking to Amy [Palcic] walking down here—when you start getting for that game, you start looking at the team; that’s a very good team.”
After Sunday’s game, Lawrence himself admitted that his turnover stung after the game and also admitted that there were throws he wish he had back the week before against the Buffalo Bills, too. However, on Sunday he told the media that he wouldn’t spend too much time reflecting on it and was ready to move on to Week 11.
“I’m disappointed in myself. Frustrated,” Lawrence said, according to ESPN. “But I know how far we’ve come. You look back compared to the first couple weeks of the season, and it’s night and day of where we’re at. We’ve got a locker room full of guys, coaches and players that believe, and we’re on the right track, but this one hurts just because I’m frustrated in myself. Had a chance to go win the game and got to do that. I had no doubt we were going to win the game. The whole offense believed it. Just got to finish.”
Needless to say, the Jags’ offense will be putting in a lot of time towards getting the little details right this week. If that can translate to the field on Sunday against San Francisco, it would be huge as the defense has stepped up and needs their teammates on the opposite end to improve as well.
