JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer won a lot of games as a college head coach and has been in a lot of emotional postgame locker rooms, especially after winning three national championships at Florida and Ohio State.
But Meyer said the moments after the Jacksonville Jaguars‘ 23-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday were as intense as he has experienced outside of those title games — and maybe even comparable.
“I think it was,” Meyer said. “Maybe even including some of those big ones [national championships].”
Not only was it Meyer’s first victory as an NFL head coach, it was the Jaguars’ first victory of the season — and the first time the franchise had won in 399 days. The Jaguars had lost 20 consecutive games — the second-longest losing streak in NFL history — dating to a victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the 2020 season opener.
The Jaguars (1-5) beat the Dolphins on Matthew Wright‘s 53-yard field goal as time expired. That touched off a massive celebration on the field in which players came off the sideline and chased Wright into the end zone to congratulate him. Wright had signed with the team’s practice squad and has been the kicker the past three weeks because Josh Lambo had been dealing with confidence issues.
Meyer normally hands out game balls after victories, but this time the players did it on their own: Receiver Marvin Jones Jr. gave one to quarterback Trevor Lawrence for getting his first victory and Wright was also given one and hoisted on the players’ shoulders. The Jaguars hadn’t made a field goal in the first five games but Wright went 3-for-3 against the Dolphins (1-5), including a 54-yarder earlier in the fourth quarter.