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You notice these stories about how Joe Douglas is more at fault over the Jets struggles than Robert Saleh.
That probably is connected to Saleh being more accessible and friendly to the media.
We don’t have a lot of access to Douglas.
Writers tend to side with people they like more or who help them more.
It’s human nature for a lot of them.
But, honestly, there is plenty of blame to go around . . .
The importance of culture is brought up a lot of sports.
As Douglas said after he was hired, “The plan is to create the best culture in sports. Every great team has that culture. It’s gonna take people with the right level of commitment, character and competence.”
Douglas knows what a great culture looks like after spending time in Baltimore and Philadelphia, being part of Super Bowl championship teams in both places.
And while his record as GM hasn’t been great, in large part due to not nailing the QB position, when you look at a lot of players he drafted and signed, he does have a good feel for the kind of players who fit a good culture, with guys like Sauce Gardner, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall and D.J. Reed being some examples.
But the Jets’ culture still isn’t where it needs to be, but it’s probably not Douglas’ fault, and I am not a Douglas apologist. He’s made his share of personnel mistakes, but I don’t blame him for the culture not advancing where it needs to be.
He doesn’t have any control over the business side, and all this praise about the defense on Twitter after losses where the offense was terrible, or focusing on uniform combinations for the next game after losses, or pushing Pro Bowl voting after losses. These are culture eaters.
And that stuff isn’t being pushed by Douglas.
As Robert Saleh always says, “Make the main thing, the main thing.”
The main thing in the NFL is winning football games, not winning Emmys, and pushing moral victories on Twitter.
I’m not trying to be mean-spirited here, just dealing with the realities of building a great football culture.
It looks like they could miss the playoffs for the 13th year in a row.
Don’t kill the messenger.
Make the main thing the main thing . . .
The Jets’ run defense continues be one of the NFL’s worst.
After giving up 167 yards to Miami, they are now 31st in the NFL.
It’s time to back off this talk of the Jets having an elite defense. You can’t be 31st against the run and have an elite defense.
A big problem is they have too many undersized defensive linemen, who are getting engulfed by offensive linemen. It is what it is.
Instead of promoting Tanzel Smart from the practice squad most weeks, how about trying 6-4, 295-pound Marquiss Spencer.
Smart is tough as boot leather and has a great motor, but he’s one of the smallest defensive tackles in the NFL.
They better try something different, because this run defense is really bad.
Maybe people can take a timeout from writing about Aaron Rodgers, who is on IR, every day and do a story on this.
November 27, 2023
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