Fans, analysts, and front office personnel could forgive the New York Jets and head coach Robert Saleh for struggling without Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. After all, in the modern NFL, if you don’t have a competent quarterback, you aren’t going to win consistently.
As the Jets continue to fall in embarrassing fashion though – the latest of which came via a 34-13 laugher to the Miami Dolphins on Black Friday – the harder it is for Saleh to ignore the calls of a potential coaching change that could be coming.
Saleh shot down any notion of his potential job being at stake following the Jets’ loss to Miami which dropped them to 4-7 on the year and in danger of missing the playoffs for a 13th straight season.
“I’m not worried about it,” Saleh said after the loss.
Luckily for New York’s head coach, the cracks that many feared would come to the locker room due to the offense’s continued futility have not reared their head just yet. The Jets offense may have been outgained by Miami’s lone rushing attack (167 rushing yards to 159 total yards) but no one is pointing fingers just yet in Gang Green’s locker room.
“We all made a commitment to each other,” defensive Captain C.J. Mosley said after the loss. “We’ve got to finish out the season, we’ve got to finish off on the right track, so it starts Monday.”
Saleh’s ability to keep the locker room focused is a testament to his message not being ignored overall. Having offensive players continue to take accountability for their own struggles also helps the head coach’s case as he tries to maintain control in the building.
“I’m making mistakes that I’ve never made in my career…” Breece Hall explained. “…It’s been difficult, but I love our guys. Our guys come to work every day. We’re just not getting the results we want.”
Hall’s comments surrounding the offense could be seen as an understatement. The Jets have not scored over 14 points in the last five games and are on their third quarterback of the season. Injuries along the offensive line hurt as well – New York had to go through its 14th different player to get time this season.
Despite all the background context working against Saleh, the increase in continued penalties, and lack of accountability for offensive coaches continue to hurt the young coach’s viability as a head honcho. It seemed to all come to ahead in Friday’s loss when the Jets were only trailing 10-6 and had picked off a second Tua Tagovailoa pass seconds before the half.
Saleh and the coaching staff called for a Hail Mary to try and get more points going into the locker room. Jevon Holland’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown not only stunned the entire crowd but was a clear microcosm of the one-step-forward-tow-steps-back approach that the Saleh era has consistently shown.
“Going into the locker room we felt good with the momentum we gathered,” Saleh explained. “We took our shot off the interception to get one more. Just a very unfortunate play before the half…cut it to a four-point game and gave it right back to them. Took away the momentum we built.”
Players and fans may have been stunned by the “unfortunate” events that Saleh called it, but it showed that the Jets coaching staff struggled again to put forth an offensive game plan that was competitive against a division foe. While Saleh confirmed that there is “no consideration” for making a change at play-caller with Nathaniel Hackety as offensive coordinator – a decision that is supported by several inside the locker room.
“Our job is to go out there & do whatever the coach asks us to do, and make the most of any play that is given to us,” Laken Tomlinson stated. “We were going out there we were planning to score, we were going to score, & that was our job to do.”
The losses continue to pile up though and that alone hurts Saleh’s message to the fans and the rest of the organization. People understood that New York’s lack of success down the stretch in 2022 came because of the quarterback play the coaching staff was stuck with. They even understand that the plan for 2023 was supposed to be different even though injuries derailed them in four plays.
With all that taken into account though, the buck stops at the head coach of the organization. Saleh believes and shows he still has control and respect in the locker room but if the losing continues, or the poor play persists, it may not be long before the Jets are back on the coaching market after all.
