Jaguars Notebook: Urban Meyer Discusses Injuries, Balancing Rookie Snaps And More
With the 2-10 Jacksonville Jaguars fresh off a 37-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13, there is plenty to sort through before the next Sunday tilt. As such, Monday's press conference from head coach Urban Meyer at TIAA Bank Field featured a number of important updates.
From injuries to key players to which moments Meyer determined were the critical turning points in a loss in which the Jaguars at one point trailed just 10-7, Meyer detailed it all. Below is this week's Jaguars Notebook, taking stock on all of the key comings and goings for the Jaguars heading into Week 14.
On DaVon Hamilton's inactive status in Week 13, plus other injury updates
The Jaguars were missing a key defender against the Rams, with nose tackle DaVon Hamilton being ruled inactive along with cornerback Shaquill Griffin. Hamilton was limited in practice throughout the week and Meyer noted on Monday that the team was hoping their starting defensive tackle would be on hand, but a knee bruise kept him off the field.
“Knee bruised. He just was unable to practice and they were worried and they wanted to get [Jay] Tufele in there a little bit," Meyer said. "Tufele played hard but it was—he [DaVon Hamilton] was day-to-day all last week. We kind of thought he could go, but he just didn’t practice.”
Along with Hamilton's injury, the Jaguars also offensive guard Ben Bartch and cornerback Tyson Campbell leave the game with injuries. Campbell returned, but Bartch was replaced by backup guard Will Richardson for the final few drives of the game.
“Yeah, just muscular [injury], he should be fine," Meyer said on Bartch.
"Should be okay, day-to-day. Should be okay, he came back into the game," Meyer said on Campbell. “Oh yeah, I am sure you guys see it. Yeah, we are happy with that guy and his physicality too and his size, length and speed. Yeah, he is what we want.”
Meyer addresses kickoff depth issues
The Jaguars allowed a 65-yard kickoff return on the very first play of the game on Sunday, the latest in a long line of kickoff returns against the Jaguars. One potential issue for the kickoff coverage team? The actual kicks themselves. While kicker Matthew Wright has been mostly consistent in terms of extra points and long-range field goals, the former Pittsburgh Steelers kicker hasn't boomed many kickoffs into the end zone, hitting just one touchback on 18 kicks this season.
“Hang time and depth of the kick are critical. We’d like to smack it out of the end zone, we just haven’t be able to do that," Meyer said on Monday. "But that was just— we did a heck of a job after that one, which we still had that one. And our punter [Logan Cooke] had a career day, he had a heck of a day. But yeah, you’d like to be able to nuke it out of the end zone at times.”
Cooke handled kickoff duties for the Jaguars most of last season and at times this year, but Wright has been the team's primary kickoff specialist over the last several months. This has been done in large part to help preserve Cooke's kicking leg, and Meyer didn't make it seem like this arrangement would change anytime soon.
"It’s not good for him. He has had some issues with his legs when you do that. He could do it, but [it isn’t good for him]," Meyer said.
Balancing rookie playing time with attempts to win games
The Jaguars are high up in the NFL's ranks in terms of rookie snaps played in 2021, but this in large part due to Trevor Lawrence taking nearly every offensive snap and Tyson Campbell's large workload on defense. But aside from those two, the Jaguars haven't exactly gotten much of a return on their rookie class, with Andre Cisco, Walker Little, Jay Tufele, and Jordan Smith all relegated to backup roles.
While the Jaguars are sitting at 2-10 and could be in prime position to evaluate their rookies and young players, Meyer noted on Monday that the Jaguars weren't simply going to throw in the towel on the season and start a youth movement.
"Yeah, I’d like to win some games, that’s number one and then certainly. [Andre] Cisco got some playing time yesterday, Walker [Little] is a guy that played one game but played pretty well," Meyer said on Monday. "But we’re not [giving up], if they can help us win a game, they’re going to be in there.”
Why the defense became a hard evaluation in Los Angeles
Allowing 37 points is far from any scenario an NFL defense wants to find itself in. The Jaguars' defense found themselves in exactly that scenario on Sunday, however, as the defense limited the Rams to 0-for-6 on their first six third-downs but were unable to keep the Rams out of the end zone as the game progressed.
In short, the Jaguars' defense gave a valiant effort but eventually broke under the pressure of an inept offense. Despite a solid start, the results ended up below-average, which does not completely fall at the feet of the Jaguars' defense. As such, this makes Sunday a tough evaluation for the Jaguars' defense, especially considering the poor field position they were put in throughout the first-half.
“Certainly, it is an issue. Defenses were not made for there to be three and outs on the other side, the best defenses are getting a nice 14-play drive [by the offense]. That is an issue right now," Meyer said.
“I thought they were great, I felt it. You felt, 0-6, the punt return team goes out there and we get the ball back and let’s go. The other interesting thing is other than the two gimmies – we gave them 10 points. The next six possessions started inside the 10-yard line or inside the 13 yard-line or maybe the 15-yard line. I do not have it in front of me, but we were playing complimentary football there against a really good team on the road and then we were just not able to get first downs and the defense wore down.”
The recent scoring rut and what it means for Meyer and the Jaguars
To say the Jaguars have struggled to score points in recent weeks would be an understatement. The Jaguars haven't scored more than 17 points in a game since Oct. 17, a Week 6 game in which they scored 23 points. Since then the Jaguars have scored 7, 9, 17, 10, 14, and 7 points -- an average of 10.66 points per game. When asked on Monday if Meyer has ever experienced an offensive scoring rut like the one the Jaguars have found themselves in over the last six weeks, the head coach was quick to say no.
"It is hard, but I do not want to worry about me. It is hard for the guys that do the work. You have a quarterback working his tail off in harms way. Yeah, it is frustrating for everyone. I get asked ‘Well coach, what about you?’ Do not worry about me," Meyer said on Monday. "Yeah, it is frustrating. It is frustrating for the people that do all the work and that is players that go out there every day and bust their tail. You have receivers working their butts off. Yeah, we have had some injuries, but we have good enough talent to go stretch the field. We just have to do it. All of the sudden you’re doing it and quarterback gets hit.
"You will hear that over and over again, Mike [DiRocco] has heard it over and over again. When you have a great day, boy Trevor [Lawrence] was fantastic. The first thing [you say] is boy the offensive line played well, boy the wideouts played well. Boy Trevor is really struggling, wait a minute, we all struggle. Coaches included, we are all in this together.”
