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.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have officially lost more games than they will win this season. Their ninth loss came at home today against the Atlanta Falcons, 21-14; like a few of their previous games, this was one the Jags probably could have won. Though they trailed the Falcons 21-3 early in the third quarter, the Jaguars did get it together in a respectable second half and managed to narrow Atlanta's lead to seven with 6:28 left to play in the fourth quarter. (They might have narrowed it even more were it not for a few offensive penalties that forced them to settle for a field goal in their last scoring drive.) Jacksonville's defense, despite collecting several more penalties, got a stop and gave the offense enough time for one last drive, but Trevor Lawrence's two-minute drill—to put it generously—fell short. In seven plays, the Jaguars managed only 11 yards from their own 18 before turning the ball over on downs.
The real story of the game, however, is the health of head coach Urban Meyer, who has struggled recently with setbacks after what seemed like the beginnings of a recovery. During Sunday's game, Meyer was informed that a promising treatment for his assorted medical problems is no longer available to him. It is the Defector medical team's understanding that at this point, Meyer's health worsened. He turned a crimson shade, began to run a dangerously high fever, and complained of difficulty swallowing. Unfortunately for him, on-site emergency medical technicians were occupied with other matters.
Meyer is feeling pretty awful. He is also running out of treatment options. The Urban Meyer Postgame Physical reflects this.
