Urban Meyer Reflects On Lack Of Halftime Adjustments That Led To Jaguars' Defensive Collapse
For 30 minutes, the Jacksonville Jaguars' defense looked like world-beaters. They held Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to 7-11 for 66 yards, and the Bengals offense overall to 97 total yards and four first downs.
The key, according to Head Coach Urban Meyer, was stopping the Bengals run game, led by Joe Mixon.
"I know Cincinnati came out and tried to establish the run early in the game and we played them very well," Meyer explained on Friday.
But Burrow couldn't be stopped for too long. The former No. 1 pick—and Urban Meyer quarterback at Ohio State—had a plan to attack the Jaguars defense; one Meyer, who recruited Burrow and coached him at OSU before Burrow transferred to LSU following Meyer's retirement, knew was his preferred style of play.
“We played well in the first half obviously, with the combination of running the ball and tightening up against the run. They had matchup advantages, they felt, in man and zone coverage. They caught us in the zero blitz and were picking us apart," Meyer noted after the loss on Thursday night.
He added on Friday, “[I] went back and watched it a couple times already and it’s [that] they changed their whole approach in the second half. First half, they were trying to establish the run and we are very strong against the run and kept [Bengals QB] Joe Burrow [contained].
"He wants to empty out, he wants to see the field, and that’s what they really did with great success in the second half. They also ran the ball a little bit, but once we snugged down, we played pretty good run defense and we had a couple missed assignments.”
Despite cracking down on the run again late in the game, Burrow and the Bengals finished with 303 yards and 17 first downs in the second half alone. Burrow had found a hole in the Jaguars defense and he attacked it the rest of the night. He knew would work based on scheme's Jags defensive coordinator Joe Cullen ran in Baltimore.
"You guys have heard me talking about having the playbook in the back of my head and seeing looks that I can take advantage of. That just comes with experience. They gave me a ‘zero’ look, and so all week I knew the defensive coordinator had a Baltimore background," explained Burrow. "They showed some ‘zero’ on film — I knew I’d have to be ready for it in a big spot."
He was, taking advantage in the flat with tight end C.J. Uzomah often enough to become laughable. Burrow even told his former coach, Meyer, that it was the difference-maker for the Bengals in the second half.
"I talked to Joe Burrow after the game a little bit," revealed Meyer. "The second half, he wanted to empty it out and identify matchup issues, and that’s what they did. Their second-half adjustment was better than ours.”
There was a moment it looked like the Jags would get Cincinnati off the field, with a chance to kick their own game-winning field goal. With 3:55 remaining in the game and the Bengals facing 3rd-and-1 from their own 31-yard line, Burrow was sacked for a nine-yard loss. But Jags corner Tre Herndon—in his first action this season after recovering from injury—was called for defensive holding.
Cincinnati received a fresh set of downs and Jacksonville didn't see the ball again.
“You could see I thought the quarterback was in the grass and you could see the hand on him. It didn’t look like a hold, but we’ll see what the NFL [says]," answered Meyer. "They do a good job sending back what their thoughts are and all that. But I don’t usually get into all that arguing about officiating calls and all that. It’s just see what they come back with. But if it was called, it was called.”
The hold not being called would've been a break for the Jaguars though, because everything the Bengals did in the second half was to win the game. It was the second half adjustments Meyer mentioned, and Jacksonville's inability to adapt, that will receive the bulk of the coaching staff's attention.
“I’m looking at it all. I would imagine it’s not conditioning but I’m looking at the halftime adjustments," admitted Meyer, who has made a focus of improving the Jaguars' strength and conditioning this offseason.
"It seems like the first part of the second half is when we’ve had a couple issues. I remember that against Arizona and then as well as the one last night, they went right down the field on us. So, we’re looking at that, but I don’t believe it’s conditioning. I’m looking at the second half adjustments and what are we doing as opposed to [the other team]."
The Jaguars have 10 days to think on the loss, on the defensive collapse and craft a better plan to adjust to halftime adjustments, because the schedule only gets tougher from here.
