Urban Meyer: Matthew Wright Has 'Earned the Right' To Be Jaguars' Kicker
It wasn't long ago that Matthew Wright was like so many others with NFL kicking experience. Hoping, longing and dreaming for a phone call and a shot from one of the league's 32 teams.
The odds for many of those kickers to get a chance to kick again under the bright lights of the NFL aren't exactly great. There are 32 kicker jobs in the NFL, and far, far, far more kickers than there are jobs.
But for Matthew Wright, everything fell into place in Jacksonville. And for the Jaguars, that fateful phone call a few weeks ago is the biggest reason the Jaguars snapped their 20-game losing streak following a 23-20 win over the Miami Dolphins in London in Week 6, courtesy of Wright's 53-yard game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
"I think he was telling me he was like a software engineer like a month and a half ago, and now he snapped our 20-game losing streak and made the game winner from 52, 53, I don't know," Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said following the game, underscoring the unlikeliness of Wright's hero story.
"But just crazy. You can't even make it up."
Wright's ascension to hero status for a Jaguars team in desperate search of a savior is the type of story that won't go away any time soon, at least not in Jacksonville. The Jaguars have thrown everything they have had to attempt to snap the second-longest losing streak in NFL history, from retooling the entire roster, drafting Lawrence No. 1 overall, and hiring Urban Meyer to lead the team as head coach.
But it was Wright who finally served as the secret ingredient to the Jaguars finding their way back to the win column. It took Wright becoming the first kicker in NFL history to make multiple FGs of 50-plus yards in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter in a single game (per NFL's Research Department) for the Jaguars to deliver Lawrence and Meyer their first wins in the NFL.
It took Wright to deliver a badly-needed win to a locker room starved for one. It took Wright to deliver a deserving and hungry fan base the Victory Monday they have been restricted from for over a year. And as a result, it is little surprise that Wright now has himself in the driver's seat for the kicking job for the rest of the year.
“We are actually going to meet on, today, roster, whatever movements we have. But obviously, Matt’s earned the right to be the starting kicker right now," Meyer said on Monday.
The Jaguars will now have to make a decision when it comes to Josh Lambo, the team's veteran kicker who earned Meyer's confidence and support all the way up until Wright's hero performance in London.
Lambo is the most accurate kicker in Jaguars' franchise history and one of the best specialists who has ever played for the team, but his loss of a grip on the kicking job began long ago. After suffering through hip injuries last year, Lambo started this season 0-for-3 on field goals and 5-of-7 on PATs.
It was Lambo's accuracy issues that led to Wright being signed by the Jaguars prior to Week 4. Wright made three PATs in Week 4, but him and Lambo would compete over the next two weeks of practice to earn the right to be named the starting kicker for game days.
Wright won the competition both weeks. He struggled in Week 5, missing a 50+ yard field goal attempt and one PAT. But in Week 6, Wright was automatic, going 3-of-3 on field goals and making 54- and 53-yard field goals in the final four minutes of the game. Wright's three field goals on Sunday were the first any Jaguars kicker has made this season.
"Yeah, he's actually been really helpful. There's no bad blood between either of us," Wright said about Lambo after Sunday's game.
"We're both here to do the job, and we're just competing, and he's been really helpful actually with everything because he's had quite a long successful career, so he's had some wise words for me."
But now, Wright has the earned Lambo's role. What happens with Lambo remains to be seen, but the Jaguars' choice at kicker was made in London on Sunday afternoon when Wright became the fulcrum to the Jaguars' first victory in over a calendar year.
A month ago, few in Jacksonville knew the name Matthew Wright. Now, it will be hard to find anyone who doesn't -- at least at TIAA Bank Field.
“I’m telling you, that was the first time I think I ever heard him speak after the game, and I had to make him speak louder because no one could hear what he said," Meyer said on Monday.
“A guy that showed up here, I honestly remember seeing him walking down the hallway, I remember [saying], ‘Who’s that again?’ Now, everybody knows who Matt[hew Wright] is.”
