Welcome to the Urban Meyer Postgame Physical, in which our expert medical team will provide a weekly evaluation of Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer, who has previously been forced to resign from two college coaching jobs for reasons that were entirely related to his health and had absolutely nothing to do with underperformance, mismanagement, or scandal.
It is now the halfway point of the season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well, sure: To be precise, the halfway point was halftime of today’s game. But the halfway-ish point is today, and the Jaguars are 2–7. They lost today, 23–17, to the Indianapolis Colts. But there was a big upside: For stretches of today’s game, the Jags looked like a normal football team. That has to make Urban Meyer proud, or at least relieved.
It didn’t start out so well. The Colts hit a field goal on their opening possession, then returned a blocked punt for a touchdown for a quick 10–0 lead. A little over 12 minutes into the game, Jonathan Taylor had 93 rushing yards, and the Colts were up 17–0.
But did the Jaguars give up, like a man might leave a college town steakhouse after a few drinks? No! They stuck it out. They gave it their all. Jamal Agnew ran for a 66-yard touchdown. The defense forced punt after punt. The offense drove for a field goal before halftime.
It didn’t work out in the end. A touchdown and two-point conversion in the fourth brought the Jags within three, but the Colts controlled the rest of the game. Jacksonville had one last chance; Trevor Lawrence fumbled in Colts territory. But the Jags hung in there! They did OK! They’re 2–7, but they have been more of a functional football team! They’re just a regular bad team now. Maybe the most embarrassing thing for the Jags today was that Carson Wentz threw one of those left-handed desperation passes and it wasn’t intercepted.
Still, though. It’s another loss, and the Jags missed some chances to score. It is the Defector medical team’s opinion that Urban Meyer is pretty much right in between “Hale and hearty” and “OH NO!!” Perhaps the DMT® is being too generous, but halfway through the season the team is feeling upbeat.
