Lawrence and Meyer Set Expectations For Themselves and Jaguars In First NFL Action
In some ways, Saturday will be old hat for Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence. They’ll arrive at the locker room, take some time to ease their mind, go over the game plan and then head to the field for a football game. It’s something they’ve done a hundred and more times.
But despite the familiarity of it all, Saturday will undoubtedly be different for the two men getting their first taste of NFL action. For starters, pre-season games aren’t typically seen as win or lose based on the scoreboard. It’s about getting guys in for reps, seeing how they perform against live bullets and working out kinds with schemes.
But try telling that to two guys who have done little but win in their careers. Lawrence, for one, led his high school team to 41 straight victories and two state championships. While with the Clemson Tigers, he went 34-2 as a starter, winning a National Championship as a freshman and the only two losses coming in the College Football Playoff.
In other words, he has little experience with losing, and has no interest in viewing Saturday as an acceptable excuse.
“To win the game, that’s the main goal,” Lawrence stated to local media on Thursday. “I know, like I said, some people look at it differently. Here it’s just the first game for us. Whoever is in there is trying to win that game.”
Whoever is in there may determine what happens on the scoreboard, but for Meyer, there can at least be the intent in each action. That’s what he’s looking for from his guys.
“The expectation is I want a clean game. We spent an inordinate amount of time on fundamentals of the game, and I expect a winner mentality, a winner mentality at every play,” echoed Meyer on Thursday. He wants to see a manifestation of the culture he’s worked hard to change since being hired in January.
“The reality is that there’s people across from you trying to take your job. Some of these guys are in survival mode and I respect that, so we’re going to back off a lot of the twos and threes.
“[I expect] a clean game, taking care of the football, hustling on and off the field, and then competitors. Every play is going to be graded and you either win the rep or you lose the rep. I’m hoping you see a real competitive group Saturday.”
The other reality is, winning this game won’t determine the future of the Jacksonville Jaguars. What Meyer and Lawrence can learn from it though, will make a difference. With that in mind, these two NFL rookies, looking to replicate the success Jimmy Johnson and Troy Aikman had with the Dallas Cowboys in the same scenario, will head into kickoff with certain markers in mind; things that will make the day a success for each guy beyond a win or a loss.
“I trust I’m in a good spot. But also, it’s nice to verify and it’s just different when you have live bullets, seeing how people react,” noted Lawrence. “You really get a real look at it, so I’m looking forward to that and I know we’re in a good spot though and I know we’re ready.
“Individually, for me, [success is] just to do my job, nothing more than that. If I do my job, it’ll put us in a position to win. So, that’s all I’m looking to doing is every play doing the best I can, putting us in a good spot, getting it to our playmakers.”
Still, the game will allow Lawrence an opportunity to work on little things here and there. He told reporters he feels comfortable at this point with the logistical changes of the NFL, i.e., getting the call in his helmet, the different hashmarks, etc. And he’s shown through two weeks of training camp thus far that he has a grasp on the offense. Any area of struggle the No. 1 overall pick does show is typically corrected by the end of the day; or definitely corrected by the next day. Saturday will give him an opportunity to do that on a larger scale.
“There’s always a lot of little things that I’m constantly trying to get better at. Whether that’s recognizing what the defense is doing, pressure, different adjustments, whatever it is. It’s constantly things that you work on, you figure it out in one look and then the next day you see something different. So, it’s a constant evolution of trying to figure out what they’re doing.”
While Lawrence will use his limited drives to work on growing the overall offense on Saturday, Meyer will actually spend time on some of the logistical details he as coach will encounter. The man who posted a 187-32 record with three National Championships has been known for having an answer to every possible question; a contingency plan for any situation, game plan or scenario.
But he’s used to college football scenario’s. This will be different. He knows he doesn’t have all of the answers yet. Saturday will be an opportunity to begin compiling those notes, especially on the analytical side.
“This is interesting that in professional football, I want to say it’s seven out of ten times you’re going to come down to the final drive. In college football, it’s not that way at all, so we actually have an analytics team. We have [Offensive Coordinator Darrell] Bevell and I have two guys, that’s their only job is analytics, and we’ve actually been working at night going through the scenarios. We do have 2-point charts, but it’s a little more complicated than just go for 2. There’s a lot of variables that quite honestly I’ve never been this detailed as we are now because it just didn’t happen very much.
“That’s a big reason why [Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell] Bev’s going to be upstairs and he’s going to have strategically located people to help me with that. To say I have the answers for that, I’m going to learn as we go. I think most coaches would tell you, [with] the chaos on the field, you have to have someone upstairs in that kind of environment that has all the data in front of them and then plus that video.”
In some ways Saturday will be old hat for Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer, doing what they’ve done time and time again. More importantly for the Jacksonville Jaguars though, it will be an opportunity for the duo to face everything new, and make it familiar.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will face the Cleveland Browns in the first pre-season game. Kickoff is at 7:00 pm EST at TIAA Bank Field. It can be viewed on NFL Network.
