Urban Meyer Reflects on Failed Fourth-And-Goal Attempt: 'I Don't Micromanage Who's In The Game'
Urban Meyer's short tenure as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars has had a few bumps in the road.
Signing Tim Tebow as a tight end forced people to scratch their heads. Giving up a 14-point halftime lead and partying with a woman instead of flying home with the team forced people to cover their heads. Now, Meyer's latest postgame comments might have people putting a bag over their heads.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars were trailing by 12, but had the ball facing fourth down on the 1-yard line with a good chance to shrink the deficit within one score.
Instead of allowing the 6-foot-6 Trevor Lawrence to sneak it in or the 100-yard rusher James Robinson to punch it in, the play call handed the ball off to backup running back Carlos Hyde, who would lose several yards on the play and turn the ball over on downs.
Meyer was asked about the questionable play call and personnel choice during the postgame press conference, where he uttered what could become an infamous quote.
"I just met with Bev (OC Darrell Bevell) and we talked about it. I don't micromanage who's in the game. I should have -- James is running really hard, but so is Carlos. I've got to go find out if something was dinged up with James on that situation," Meyer said after the game.
"And the quarterback sneak, he's not quite comfortable with that yet. We've been practicing that. I know that might sound silly, but when you've never done it, it's something that we need to continue to make that, so you can make that call in that critical situation.
It's a strange comment coming from the head coach of a football team, who should have veto power over choices like that. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell could be the one at fault for the odd substitution, but why wouldn't Meyer put in the best back?
"Whatever is called, I just go with it, and we have to be able to execute," Robinson said. "I trust my teammates to get the job done, and it is what it is."
Whether or not this was a fatal move in the game, it's a sign as to where the communication within the staff and comfort with the players on the field lie. And it wasn't enough to win a football game for the fifth week in a row.
Robinson finished the game with a career-high 149 rushing yards, though many of those yards came in the first-half, with the Jaguars largely ignoring their 1,000-yard rusher in the game's biggest moments. Robinson was also not given the ball on a fourth-down against the Bengals on the goal-line the week before against the Cincinnati Bengals in a similarly controversial call, though on that call Trevor Lawrence kept the ball.
"I never like to talk scheme, but the play was we really had two opportunities on the play, and it didn’t come off the way that we needed it to. Without getting too deep into it, the way the play played out, Trevor [Lawrence] keeping the ball is what he ended up needing to do the way the play played out. But it could’ve been different, let’s say that," Bevell said on Thursday.
