Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer continues to deal with the fallout from his choices this past weekend, which has reportedly led to a loss of credibility among his players and the front office. The first-year NFL coach was filmed with a young woman who was not his wife at an Ohio restaurant, in a viral video that was passed around this weekend. On Wednesday, he addressed his full team to apologize for his actions, according to the NFL Network.
Per Aditi Kinkhabwala, Meyer told his team that he’s always cared about two things: his family and his players. He then said that he “embarrassed” them both. Meyer reportedly used the meeting to take responsibility for his actions, ask for forgiveness and reiterate that he believes in his team and loves them.
On Tuesday, NFL Media’s Michael Silver reported that the Meyer situation had reached a “crisis point.” One player told Silver that Meyer has zero credibility, and had very little to begin with. Potentially one reason for the full team meeting Wednesday was that, according to Silver, players were put off by Meyer cancelling Monday’s team meeting as he continued to deal with the repercussions from the weekend videos. One player reportedly saw Meyer as being “too scared.” Instead of apologizing to the team, Silver was told Meyer “only apologized to position groups individually.”
This past weekend’s events caused Jaguars owner Shad Khan to release a statement concerning his head coach, saying that it’s now on him to earn everyone’s respect back.
“I have addressed this matter with Urban. Specifics of our conversation will be held in confidence,” the statement read. “What I will say is his conduct last weekend was inexcusable. I appreciate Urban’s remorse, which I believe is sincere. Now, he must regain our trust and respect. That will require a personal commitment from Urban to everyone who support, represents or plays for our team. I am confident he will deliver.”
