The Jacksonville Jaguars got back to their losing ways on Sunday, dropping a 31-7 road contest to the Seattle Seahawks.
The final score should have been a little closer at 24-7 except that the Jags curiously decided to run an onside kick with 1:49 remaining in the game. Not only did they not recover but the Seahawks took the kick all the way back for an easy touchdown to pad their stats.
The most Jaguars onside kick ever.
The Seahawks returned it for a touchdown 😮
(Via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/tHztS2EdIg
— Stadium (@Stadium) October 31, 2021
Considering they were down three scores at the time and the Jaguars had decided not to go for two on their touchdown, there were a lot of questions as to why head coach Urban Meyer would even bother calling that play. Was there a method to this madness or simply just an onside kick for the hell of it? Turns out, it was basically the latter, according to Meyer himself.
“I felt we would have went for two, but I just wanted to get the seven points, then let’s get one more possession,” said Meyer during his Monday press conference. “Let’s let this guy who we just got, Matt [Wright]. There’s different ways to kick that onside kick and so I said, “Okay, when trying to steal another possession.”
“Why would you try to steal another possession when you’re down three possessions,” asked a reporter.
“Just for experience,” Meyer responded.
Meyer’s decision-making has been a question mark all season long, on and off the field. We could see this decision going either way in the court of public opinion. On one side, getting experience is just about the only thing the Jaguars can really bank on right now and ultimately it didn’t change anything. On the other hand, with the game basically decided, was it worth adding some extra humiliation to your players unnecessarily, especially after not going for two on the previous score?
We’ll see how the Jags respond next weekend but we’re guessing no one was super-thrilled about the extra experience.
[Fansided]
