So far, Urban Myer’s first season as an NFL coach has gone about as poorly as many fans expected (or hoped?). After a preseason full of rumors of discontent, the Jacksonville Jaguars looked terrible right out of the gate, causing people to wonder how long Meyer will stick around. He even had to publicly deny that he had an interest in the USC job after annoying some reporters by not being available for questions. Following another tough loss, he asked fans to “hang in there” in a tweet that didn’t go over too well.
All of which is to say that it hasn’t been a great start for Meyer but perhaps that was always to be expected. The NFL isn’t like college football where you can fatten up on lesser opponents. Meyer also walked into great situations in both Florida and Ohio State where it was easy to rebuild behind a big brand. That’s not easy to do in the NFL where just about everyone can beat everyone on any given Sunday.
That’s not a lesson lost on Meyer, at least according to Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. Fangio was talking to reporters on Wednesday about how tough it can be to compete every week in the NFL and shared a comment that Meyer made to him around the Broncos-Jaguars game last weekend.
“This is the NFL. I don’t know Urban Meyer at all, really, I met him the other day, shook his hand before the game and after the game,” Fangio said, via Troy Renck of Denver 7. “And his comment to me was, ‘Every week is like playing Alabama in the NFL.’ That’s it. Everybody’s capable of beating everybody in this league.”
On its face, it’s not entirely wrong in a sense. We’ve certainly seen really bad teams beat really good teams in the NFL, especially early in the season when teams are still figuring it out. But it’s not the most flattering thing for Meyer given how much some fans already think he’s overmatched for the pro league. If he looks at the Houston Texans and sees the Alabama Crimson Tide, what does that mean for when the Jags have to play the Chiefs or Buccaneers?
And in case you’re wondering if Fangio misheard Meyer, it was actually captured on camera. So don’t blame Vic for speaking out of turn. Also, the video clarifies the specific quote, which is that “it’s Alabama every week.”
[Troy Renck, PFT]