It didn’t last long, but based on what happened in the first 13 games on and off the field, firing Urban Meyer was probably the right thing to do for owner Shad Khan and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Meyer was fired Thursday morning, and OC Darrell Bevell was named the interim coach for the rest of the season.
“There’s been some drama; there’s been some distractions,” Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence said Thursday. “You can’t ever go back, though; you just have to move forward. Where we’re at right now, [Interim Head Coach], Coach Bev[ell] ‘s our head coach the rest of the reason, and I have a lot of respect for Bev and who he is. He’s earned my respect, so we’re going to all follow him. I’m excited about these last four games and just to go play our best and finish with some momentum.”
Despite all the drama, the number one pick says he has a lot of respect for Meyer.
“He’s great. [I] have a lot of respect for him,” Lawrence said. “This first thing I’ll say about all of this is just I respect [former Head Coach] Coach [Urban] Meyer, and I really appreciate everything he’s done for me. He’s one of the main reasons I’m here. He drafted me, so that will always be there, and I wish him nothing but the best. Obviously, it didn’t work out here; some changes had to be made. But as far as Coach and his future, I wish him nothing but the best, and I guess I’ll just start with that.”
Meyer’s firing did not come down until after Thursday midnight, but Lawrence, like others, found out about Meyer’s dismissal early Thursday morning.
“I actually, I didn’t find out until this morning. I woke up; I guess it was around six or whatever and saw it on my phone,” Lawrence explained. “I had some texts and then just naturally kind of googled it to see what’s going on, just to be honest. Saw that, and I rolled over and told Marissa [his wife], ‘Hey, this just happened. It’ll be an interesting day at work.”
Even after a tumultuous first season, Lawrence is committed to trying to win in Jacksonville.
“Let’s go turn this thing around, go become a winner, let’s go win some games, get this thing turned around,” he said. “I have full faith in that still. Obviously, there’s a lot of steps to be made in the future to go in that direction, but I still believe that, and I plan on being here for a long time, hopefully, my whole career. Whatever the future holds, I know I’m just going to be the best I can every day, wherever my feet are. That’s how I’m approaching it, and that’s how I always will.”
Jacksonville(2-11) hopes to end their five-game losing streak on Sunday at home against the Texans.
Watch below as Lawrence talks Meyer’s firing and turning things around in Jacksonville:
