With the New York Jets, hope perennially springs eternal, only for it to dissipate midway through the NFL season.
The same pattern has unfolded this year for Gang Green, who were supposed to be revitalized by talented young players and a coaching staff not led by Adam Gase.
Instead, the Jets find themselves at 3-9, and in a familiar place; the cellar of the AFC East.
New head coach Robert Saleh had been a hot candidate on the hiring circuit in the past couple of offseasons.
He served as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers for four years before being hired in the Big Apple.
Even though there are still five more games on the Jets’ schedule, there’s already a strong case to be made that Saleh should not be brought back for a second season in New York.
Defensive Performance
Saleh’s bread and butter was made on the defensive side of the football.
Rightfully so, the perception around the 42-year-old coach was that he was one of the best defensive minds in the NFL.
His 49ers defenses were among the most effective in the league in the last three seasons.
This was punctuated by a special 2019 season for San Francisco, where they were top five in a plethora of categories, including yards allowed, points allowed, rushing yards allowed, and rushing touchdowns conceded.
Saleh’s defenses in San Francisco were absolutely loaded with talent at all three levels, and at this point in time, it’s fair to wonder whether the guys on the field had more to do with that success than their coordinator.
The Jets need a talent infusion all over their roster, but the hope for fans was that Saleh would make up for that by motivating and scheming on a high level.
"There's a lot of things to look forward to, but it still comes down to – we've got five games left too." pic.twitter.com/yT6VUV3frb
— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 8, 2021
Quarterback Roulette
Of course, it’s usually not a coach’s fault when a cornerstone player goes down with an injury.
Starting quarterback Zach Wilson suffered a PCL injury in a 54-13 defeat to the New England Patriots, and ended up missing four weeks of action.
During that time, the fan base and the media fell in love with reserve quarterback Mike White, who was being billed as an unheralded savior after one impressive performance against the Cincinnati Bengals.
While Saleh is new to the organization and to the New York market, he should have understood that taking this job meant pacifying an impatient (perhaps rightfully so) fan base.
Hitching his wagon to the team’s second overall pick in last year’s draft in a definitive way would’ve quieted the chatter before anything had a chance to develop.
Lack Of Experience At The Top
While every head coach starts as a rookie leader at some point, things don’t figure to get much better for Saleh from a competitive standpoint in the next couple of years.
There’s reason to think he will improve in future seasons at the helm, but he’s in a very difficult division with formidable opposite numbers.
The Patriots are led by Bill Belichick, lauded as the greatest coach in NFL history.
The Buffalo Bills’ Sean McDermott has done an impressive job in the last few years building up a young roster into a contender.
The Miami Dolphins have Brian Flores, who seems to be a coach that players play hard for even during long spells of adversity.
"He's one of the true pros in this league." – Coach Saleh on @TheCDavis84 pic.twitter.com/lYJQNMfrXC
— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 6, 2021
There’s an argument to made that the Jets should bring in a more experienced coach to do battle with the other stalwarts in the AFC East.
NEXT: 3 Reasons Jets Fans Have To Be Concerned With Zach Wilson
walter wilks says
I am tired of hearing the jets players are no good.It is time you put the blame where it belongs. Robert saleh has no business coaching in the NFL at all let alone as a head coach.Anyone who thinks this guy can bring the jets to the promise land is delusional.How many first round picks and high priced free agents must we waste when ,management and coaching is terrible. Some teams have gone down and rebuilt two or three times while we are still waiting for one winning season.Take a tip from the browns or giants if a coach does not get results he is gone no cry baby excuses like the players are not good enough.The fans may be duped but NFL players know that the jets are not going anywhere with this guy and the rest of incompetents on the staff. If you were a really good player would you want to sign with the jets.The players can see plainly that management is not serious about winning.
Sim says
S E L L; sell the Jets!
Anonymous says
Just End The Season
Sparky says
Fire Everybody!
erick stamp says
I sit here on 9/26/2022 and you were absolutely right. 3 games into the 2022 season with a significant upgrade in talent, and the Jets are still the most poorly coached, helpless, hopeless undisciplined and mistake prone team in football. Saleh was a media favorite that (we all know why) was hyped to the moon by talking heads trying to get him a HC job when it was obvious he was a poorly qualified and inept motivational speaker type. The jig is up. This team is somehow as bad or WORSE than they were under Gase and Bowles