Urban Meyer Is Now Undefeated In London After The Jaguars Beat The Dolphins On A Last Second Field Goal

The Jacksonville Jaguars entered Sunday as arguably the NFL’s most hapless team, with an 0-5 record (one of two winless teams, alongside Detroit), only one game they were truly competitive in, and plenty of off-field drama involving their embattled head coach Urban Meyer (all of which was self-inflicted).

However, the Jags were back in familiar territory on Sunday, as they played their seemingly annual London game as the hosts, with Miami making the trip across the pond to face them. The Dolphins were getting Tua Tagovailoa back from the injured list for the game and after four straight losses, things seemed set up for Miami to get back on track. However, through a combination of unforced errors, poor decision-making from the coaching staff and players, and a suddenly red-hot kicker for the Jaguars, the Dolphins managed to squander leads early and late as Jacksonville picked up its first win of the season in London.

After going up 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, Miami would scuffle on offense, as Tagovailoa struggled to find anything approaching a sustained rhythm all game, and that left the door ajar for Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars. After a very close call on a punt return in which Jamal Agnew nearly touched a bouncing ball that was recovered by Miami in the end zone (ruled a touchback and simply got the “call stands” upon review), the Jaguars marched into Miami territory to set up a 54-yard field goal from a kicker who, including his college career, had never hit from that far out.

Somehow the kick that at one point was a good five feet wide of the upright drew back in, clearing the bar by maybe two feet, tying the game. The Dolphins would work it back to near midfield on their effort at a game-winning (or at least, lead-taking) drive, but found themselves with a 4th and inches. They chose not to trot out Jacoby Brissett for a QB sneak or even the threat of one, and ran a simple dive play that didn’t come particularly close to picking up the first down.

Jacksonville would do little with the ball on the next possession, finding themselves in a 4th and 8 with five seconds left, outside of field goal range. It was then that magic would strike, as Lawrence threw a bullet of a slant to pick up the first and, somehow, got a timeout called with one second on the clock. Once again, Matthew Wright trotted out for a 50-plus yarder and this time he didn’t need a lucky late turn from the ball to hit it, banging through the game-winning kick to send the Jags into a frenzy in London.

There were some horrific decisions from both sides throughout the game, but to the Jags credit, they executed when it mattered most with a tremendous back-to-back plays to set up the game-winning field goal. They now move to 1-5, tying the Dolphins in record and leaving Detroit as the lone winless team in the NFL, and providing some rare positive discussion of the franchise and even the coaching decisions of Meyer after some truly awful coaching early in the season.