NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
The New York Jets have proved the hottest seat in any NFL stadium is the one the head coach occupies. On Tuesday the Jets announced they had parted ways after a slower-than-expected start to the 2024 campaign. While some might be questioning the timing of the move this early in the season, it is absolutely the right call.
Most teams that fire their head coach wait until midseason when the team is already off the rails and well on their way to being eliminated from playoff contention. At 5 games into the season, the Jets are nowhere near that so it might be a bit of a head-scratcher. As bad as the Jets have looked in previous weeks, they’re still only one game behind the division lead. They have one of the best QBs in the history of the NFL throwing to a young and talented team. Clearly this is just early-season struggles, right?
Not entirely.
Robert Saleh has spent his career in the NFL on the defensive side of the football and the Jets defense is succeeding. However, the Jets are equipped with some of the better-talented offenses in the league when utilized correctly and game plan accordingly. The New York Jets needed a scapegoat for why the team is struggling so early on and they got it in Saleh. Despite that, however, there were too many instances where decisions in-game destroyed momentum.
Saleh would play every decision he made by the book. When you’ve got a young and talented team, they want you to occasionally take risks, prove you believe in them, and do what you can to build momentum. Not every play needs to be a 60-yard bomb, go for it every so often when you have a short gain but a long field goal.
There is way too much talent for this team to look as out of sync as they are. They abandon the run game despite a duo of Breece Hall and Braelon Allen. They have the sixth-worst yards per game on offense in the NFL and are only better than 9 other teams in total scoring. They have a 40-year old Aaron Rodgers at QB, a journeyman backup in Tyrod Taylor, and zero identity on offense despite having one of the younger teams in the NFL.
Make no mistake about it, this was a move for the future of the franchise, not just a desperate attempt to save their season. If they fire Saleh now, they can try and course correct. They weren’t going to be able to last until the BYE week with a tough run on opponents coming up. It doesn’t mean they’ve given up on the season already but there’s no sense delaying the inevitable. It’s nothing personal against Robert Saleh, but despite the team getting better in regards to talent, they haven’t improved at all in terms of wins, explosive playmaking, or energy surrounding the team. As the old cliche goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
Saleh didn’t develop a young QB to lead this team so they brought a better one in. In doing so, the Jets are no better than they were the year before with one of the more statistically successful QBs in the NFL. So, yes, they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, but you have to ask yourself, has anything they’ve done so far resembled a team that was going to get their on offense? Call Robert Saleh the scapegoat for Aaron Rodgers if you must, but unfortunately, just as the QB takes all the blame when an offense struggles, the HC takes all the blame when a team doesn’t improve. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
