The house is in a mess at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite high hopes, little is happening on the field and now new coach Urban Meyer’s off-field antics are weighing on the team. ran answers the questions about the Meyer case.

Munich – Before the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars had a great sense of optimism.

With the first pick in the draft, the team from Florida snatched up quarterback super talent Trevor Lawrence and there was also to be a breath of fresh air at the head coach position. The team managed to get hold of Urban Meyer, one of the most successful college coaches in history.

While Meyer was still conspicuous in the training camp for his hard and conservative training methods, he has since made other headlines. Due to an explosive video off the court, the 57-year-old has now been publicly pilloried.

As things are not going well in the sporting arena either, the situation in Jacksonville is threatening to escalate. ran summarises the events.

What happened?

After a close loss in the Thursday Night Game at the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4, Meyer, originally from Ohio, decided to stay with his family over the weekend, not flying back to Jacksonville with the team.

A simple family holiday would hardly have caused an outcry, but on Saturday, events spilled over. A video went public in which Meyer can be seen in a well-stocked bar, getting hit on by a woman. Later, a second video surfaced in which he also makes advances to the lady.

Why is the incident so explosive?

Besides the fact that the woman was not Meyer’s wife, this incident also has a sporting context. The Jaguars have lost every game so far and have been far from what fans had hoped for before the season.

With a record of 0-4, they stand as one of the worst teams in the entire league and there is little reason to hope for improvement in the coming weeks. Moreover, Meyer has rarely managed to get his quarterback jewel Lawrence into meaningful action.

Now Meyer has to deal with the criticism that he has let the team down. He himself stated that he wanted to give the team and himself a couple of days off “to clear his head. “

He is facing the most headwind due to the fact that he had his team fly back to Jacksonville alone. “In 35 years of the NFL, I’ve never seen a head coach not fly back with the team after a game,” said three-time Super Bowl champion Michael Lombardi.

Longtime head coach Chuck Pagano echoed a similar sentiment: “I’ve never seen anything like this in 37 years. It’s only the fourth game of the season, you don’t just check out. “

What are the consequences?

The Jaguars were relatively quick to speak out. “There is no excuse for the incident over the weekend,” team owner Shad Khan said in a statement, “I recognise his remorse and I believe it is genuine. Now he must earn back our trust and respect.”

While this means that Meyer need not fear for his job for now, how sensible it is to continue on this broken foundation of trust will be seen in the coming weeks. Meyer himself apologised in all directions and also held several talks with the team to mend fences.

At the same time, however, he also admitted: “I did not think about resigning. A lot of feedback I have received from the team has been very positive, we are continuing our journey together. “

How have the players reacted publicly?

From the public statements of the players, it seems that the matter has indeed been sorted out. “I know a lot of players liked the way he apologised,” Trevor Lawrence explained. “I think he did the right thing and just apologised to us.”

“We all have a job to do,” explained linebacker Josh Allen: “He’s a great coach and we’re going to play even harder for him now.”

“He’s still my coach,” Lawrence agreed in closing.

Why is there still unrest in the team?

While the star players strive for feigned peace in public, things are probably different in reality. According to several US media outlets, Meyer’s action was anything but well received by the team.

According to “Sports Illustrated”, an unnamed player said: “He has zero credibility in this stadium. He had little to begin with anyway.” The fact that Meyer discussed the issue in individual groups instead of in a big team meeting was also not well received: “He was scared. “

THREAD 1) The Urban Meyer situation in Jacksonville has reached a crisis point, especially in the locker room. One player told me, ‘He has zero credibility in that stadium. He had very little to begin with.’

– Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) October 5, 2021

In addition, the players reportedly didn’t take their coach seriously because he referred to the woman in the video only “as a strange woman who danced there. “We all looked at him and wondered if he was serious. When he left, everyone started laughing. He knew that too,” another player is reported to have said.

Despite the apology, the mood in Jacksonville does not really seem to be any better. Only sporting success could now bring Meyer a long-term future with the Jaguars. If the situation does not improve, a separation sooner or later seems to be without alternative.