Urban Meyer finally got his first NFL win on Sunday, and the Jacksonville Jaguars coach deserved it with the call he made at the end of the game.
The Jaguars had the ball at the Miami 44-yard line on 4th-and-8 with the score tied 20-20 and just five seconds remaining. Rather than have rookie kicker Matthew Wright attempt a 61-yard field goal, Meyer had Trevor Lawrence and his offense line up in a Hail Mary formation. But there was no Hail Mary attempt.
With the Dolphins lined up in a deep prevent defense, Lawrence completed a quick 9-yard pass to Laviska Shenault Jr., who immediately went down and called timeout with 1 second left.
Wright then came on and made a 53-yard field goal to win the game. The execution had to be perfect, and it was. The Jaguars would have turned it over on downs had Shenault come up short of the first-down marker, and the clock would have run out if the play had taken any longer.
Thanks to the savvy play design, Meyer got his first ever win. The Jaguars also snapped a 20-game losing streak. Twitter had a variety of reactions:
Urban Meyer is now the winningest coach in NFL history on games played outside of the United Staes (100% win percentage).
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 17, 2021
Urban Meyer when the Jaguars win a game and he has to continue coaching pic.twitter.com/z2HOehFmFf
— #RingerNFL (@ringernfl) October 17, 2021
Urban Meyer returning to Jacksonville after a Jaguars win and THREE made field goals pic.twitter.com/IcqBQWYNzj
— Pick Six Podcast (@picksixpod) October 17, 2021
That's Urban Meyer's first win over an NFL team since the 2015 Sugar Bowl.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) October 17, 2021
Urban Meyer’s been gettin cooked all year but you gotta tip it, that was a pretty baller move to win it
— Jordan Kaplan (@JKap415) October 17, 2021
And our personal favorite:
Urban Meyer celebrating his first win in London tonight pic.twitter.com/cYWQErkC3C
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 17, 2021
The Jaguars may have gotten away with a massive late-game blunder (video here), but all that matters is the final score. Meyer has finally generated a positive headline in Jacksonville.
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