Urban Meyer explains conversation with players over drama

It’s been a rough week for Urban Meyer. Since losing to the Cincinnati Bengals last Thursday and going viral for the wrong reasons last weekend, Meyer has had to answer for his actions.

Evidently, it’s not going well for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach. According to Mark Long of the Associated Press, Meyer stated that the internal conversations regarding his misadventures in Ohio “have been horrible.” Additionally, he said that he has “to move forward and regain the trust” of the organization.

Moreover, Meyer spoke about how he’ll get the Jaguars back on track. Staring a fifth straight loss in the face in the midst on controversy, the Jaguars are in dire need of a victory.

“The ownership of this team is with the players,” Meyer said, regarding the question of getting the team’s game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. “I don’t believe that’s in my court. … The leaders on the team are going to make that decision. It depends on how much trust you have built up with them, how we structure everything this week and focus on winning that game. … I’m going to be extremely clear as I can. Our staff is working their tails off. But you know as well as I do that the ownership of this team is with the players.”

It ultimately comes down to the way the players play. However, it remains to be seen if his team has lost all respect for Meyer. The former Ohio State head coach had plenty of detractors when he entered the league, and they’re being vindicated.

Jaguars, Meyer at a ‘crisis point’

The Jaguars are already 0-4, but the incident with Meyer adds a whole additional layer of problems within the organization. Sports Illustrated’s Mike Silver painted a chaotic picture of what is happening in North Florida.

“The Urban Meyer situation in Jacksonville has reached a crisis point, especially in the locker room,” Silver tweeted in a five part thread. “One player told me, ‘He has zero credibility in that stadium. He had very little to begin with.’

“Players were particularly put off by the fact that Meyer canceled Monday’s team meeting, as he dealt with the uproar over the videos of him and a young woman getting cozy in that Ohio bar. ‘He even canceled the team meeting. He was too scared,’ a player said.”

Silver went on to say that players were skeptical of Meyer’s “apology” to the team. 

“Instead Meyer ‘only apologized to position groups individually.’ He portrayed the woman in the videos as a random person who was ‘just there dancing.’ Suffice it to say, his audience was highly skeptical.”

After Meyer spoke to the team, Silver reports that one Jaguars player said that the entire team started laughing after his apology once he left the room.

“Said one player: ‘We looked at him like, WTF? Right when he left everyone started dying laughing. And he knew it,’ Silver tweeted. “Bottom line, said the player: ‘It’s bad. I don’t know how he’s gonna function.’”