The Jacksonville Jaguars kicker carousel spins on, as Josh Lambo returns from a week off to fight for his spot.
"Josh Lambo’s back with us," Head Coach Urban Meyer told local media on Monday. "He’s going to compete for a kicking spot this week.”
Lambo missed practice each day last week ahead of the Thursday night showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals due to "non-injury related/personal" reasons.
He was out for that primetime showdown with the Bengals, a game in which the Jaguars lost—skidding to 0-4—after losing by a field goal, 24-21. Granted, the kicker who stepped in for Lambo, Matthew Wright, went 2-2 for on his point after attempts, something Lambo had not done in the previous week's loss against the Arizona Cardinals.
After that loss to the Cardinals, Meyer issued a vote of confidence—albeit realistic–in Lambo.
"The one thing I respect about him [is] he’s as hard working if not the hardest working specialist I’ve ever had. But there’s also the reality, you have to make kicks. There’s nothing about attitude, nothing about work ethic, but reality is that ball has to go through the uprights.”
Meyer was an outspoken fan of kicker Aldrick Rosas in the offseason, but a COVID diagnosis kept him out of offseason workouts and then he was traded to the New Orleans Saints. It wasn't seen as much of a worry though, given Lambo's full career history.
Yet the incumbent starter who was once considered one of the best—if not the best—in the league, has had a tumultuous time over the past two years. A hip injury placed him on IR after an early season hip injury. He returned ahead of Week 9 and kicked a career long, and franchise long, 59-yard field goal. Then in the same game, during an onside kick attempt, he reinjured the hip and was placed on IR the remainder of the season.
This preseason, Lambo maintained he was more ready than ever to return and become the kicker who once had one of the top success rates in the NFL.
"A lot more mindfulness, a lot more meditation, a lot more yoga, a lot more stretching. Just trying to take care of all the off-the-field things so that when I’m on the field, the only thing I have to worry about is stuff that is on the field. I shouldn’t be out there kicking and worrying about my hamstring. That just shouldn’t [happen]. I shouldn’t be worrying about my hip. And so, I’m doing everything I can to, when I’m out there, just let everything flow.”
Yet in the first three games, Lambo went 5-7 on PAT's and 0-3 on field goals, all of 40 or more yards. The "non-injury/personal" classification on the injury report begged the question, are Lambo's struggles more on the mental side than mechanical side?
"We all, in athletics, have dealt with that, whether it be a pitcher, whether it be a golfer, whether it be a kicker," explained Meyer. "The guy’s a workaholic, the guy’s a grinder, and the guy’s talented. We’re all personally trying to get him through it. That’s what he’s working through.”
Now he has one week to earn his job back from Wright. On the other side of the competition waits the Tennessee Titans. It's the divisional rival game in which Lambo injured himself last season, losing 33-30 and kickstarting what is now a 19-game losing streak.
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