HOUSTON: The NFL debut of coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Trevor Lawrence was certainly not what Jacksonville Jaguars fans expected.
In fact, it was pretty bad.
In a 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans, the Jaguars struggled to line up and make sure they had the right number of players in the group, received four penalties, threw three interceptions and had six passes. falls. It was an unexpected performance after a low season full of optimism.
But Meyer said he and the locker room aren’t surprised by what was the franchise’s 16th straight loss that dates back to an opening win of the season against Indianapolis in 2020.
“I don’t really know that (shocking) word, other than that we’ve all suffered our ass before,” Meyer said. “We squeeze and leave. I believe in this team. I believe in our staff. Get back to work. I’m going to win the lines of your captain and those of leadership as a coach and team leaders. But I believe in these guys.”
Sunday saw the first game of three interceptions in Lawrence’s career, including high school and college. It was the first time Meyer had lost a season as head coach (he was 16-0 before Sunday in Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State), and the first time he lost his first game with a new team. .
It was also the first time Lawrence had a record loss as a starting quarterback.
“Obviously it sucks,” Lawrence said. “Losing is always hard, especially when you have the feeling of being ready and having a fantastic week and you really think we were ready. Obviously I didn’t play well. Start with me. I played really badly tonight. Disappointing, sure .
“I still believe in this team. I still know what we’re capable of. We did some good things. We started with some penalties, three and three, but then we had a good couple of records. We played some great plays again. There are many good things and we have to keep doing them and learn from the bad.We have to look at it and learn from it for sure, but then turn the page.Long season.We can’t let this snowball in.We have to move on and win the week next “.
Most of the Jaguars’ problems were self-inflicted. They were sanctioned for illegal training three times (one was accepted, one was overturned by a pin penalty and another was rejected for a retention penalty). They left six passes, including two from DJ Chark (who had one of the penalties for illegal training) and two from James Robinson.
There was also a penalty of illegal participation for 12 men in the offensive group.
“It’s inexcusable what needs to be fixed,” Meyer said. “Three preseason games you’d think we’d have fixed, so we’ll do something … I guess I wouldn’t see that again. That’s inexcusable.”
Then there were Lawrence’s three interceptions. He owned all of them, saying the first made a bad throw, the second in a bad decision and the third after losing sight of the central defender and trying to force a throw.
“It’s a bad pitch or a bad decision when making a selection,” Lawrence said. “Bad decisions, these are the ones that will surely assure you.
“Turnover, it’s myself. You won’t win a lot of games with three turnovers, especially when the margin was minus-3 for us. It’s just not good.”
It wasn’t bad at all for Lawrence, though. His first NFL touchdown was Chris Manhertz, he hit Chark on the left side (kept the ball out so safety couldn’t reach) for a 41-yard TD and connected with Marvin Jones for a 4-point yard at the end of the game.
Lawrence finished 28 of 51 going 332 yards as the Jaguars were forced to give up the race after falling behind 27-7 at the end of the first half.
“I know I’ll answer right. I’m made of the right things, so I have no doubt about it,” Lawrence said. “But it’s frustrating and I hate losing. I hate losing. So we’re going to get better, but that’s all you can do is look at the tape, learn from it, improve, keep going.
“We just have to stay together. That’s the most important thing. This is a thing of the past, it’s over, it’s what it is. We have to move on to next week and move on together.”