Meyer has unhappy introduction to NFL
As the losses pile up and the frustration mounts this season, just remember this was what Urban Meyer wanted.
After winning everywhere he went in college, the challenge of the NFL was simply too great to resist. Never short on confidence, Meyer was certain he could succeed where so many other great college coaches have failed.
And maybe he will, eventually. So far, though, he looks as overmatched as those others did.
Ugly as the score would suggest, the Jacksonville Jaguars' 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday was actually worse. This was not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Kansas City Chiefs the Jaguars were playing. Meyer wasn't matching wits with Sean Payton or Bill Belichick.
But David Culley, who was also making his debut as an NFL head coach, had his team more ready to play than Meyer did. The Texans were more organized, more productive and, most surprising of all, more disciplined than Meyer's Jaguars.
The Jaguars had 10 penalties, double that of the Texans. They couldn't make stops when they needed to, or even in what would have seemed the simplest of scenarios. The Texans got the ball at their own 31 with 37 seconds left in the first half, and they still managed to score.
With Tyrod Taylor as their quarterback.
“We're still a work in progress, as you see,” Meyer said after the game. “I did not anticipate that today.”
There is no denying Meyer is a great coach. You don't luck into three national titles. But the NFL is a different game than college.
With the exception of the bowl game and maybe the conference championship, Meyer could be confident that he had the better roster. That's not the case in the NFL, and certainly not with the Jaguars.
That means there is no margin for error. Missed tackles here, penalties there, bad decisions by Trevor Lawrence everywhere — they will cost you in ways they wouldn't have in the college game because the line between most NFL teams is so thin.
“That's the great thing about this sport. It's not like we have to make a secret pass call or protection call. It's just work,” Meyer said.
Meyer does not take losing well, and he's likely to finish this season with more losses than he had in seven years at Ohio State (nine). Maybe even more than the 15 games he lost in six years at Florida.
The Jaguars play the Denver Broncos next week, followed by the Arizona Cardinals. There's also a date with Russell Wilson in Seattle in Week 8, and one with Belichick in Week 17.
There were already jokes and rumors Sunday afternoon about Meyer going back to the college game, and those will only increase if the season disintegrates. But it was Meyer who wanted the challenge of the NFL.