Trailing the Tennessee Titans, 31-19, with just over ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Jacksonville Jaguars were facing a crucial 4th-and-1 from the Titan’s one-yard line. James Robinson had been running all over the Tennessee defense the entire day, while backup running back Carlos Hyde is…well, Carlos Hyde.
Conventional wisdom would tell you that, on what was probably the most important play of the entire game, the head coach should probably be playing close attention to which players he’s sending on the field. And that probably means inserting your starting running back who has a hot hand and is known for being quite the bulldozer between the tackles.
But this is Urban Meyer we’re talking about. This guy thinks it’s a good idea to stiff your team on the flight home after a home loss so that he can stay behind and grind at a bar with some college girls.
So it should come as no surprise that, during a crucial play like this, Meyer would rather not “micromanage” who he’s putting on the field…
Seriously. That’s what he said when asked why Carlos Hyde was given the ball on 4th-and-goal from the one, rather than James Robinson (who finished the game with 18 carries, 149 yards, a touchdown, and an average of 8.3 yards per carry).
Here’s a look at the play in question:
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And here’s how Meyer responded when asked why he went with Hyde over J. Rob:
Does anyone wanna tell this guy that micromanaging who’s on the field during the most important play of the game is sort of the head coach’s job — and an important one at that.
This wasn’t the only crazy response Meyer gave during his postgame presser. When asked whether he considered running a quarterback sneak on that same play, the Jags coach claimed that Trevor Lawrence wasn’t comfortable running that play — a suggestion that Lawrence later refuted when asked about it by the media:
A lot of people felt that Meyer was in over his head when he took this job, but I don’t think anyone envisioned the train-wreck that’s unfolding in Duval County at the moment. Needless to say, Urban Meyer can’t be fired soon enough.
