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Should you talk about it this time of year or avoid it? . . .
Should the Jets be talking about being a championship contender this time of year?
Robert Saleh famously said a couple of weeks ago:
“Acknowledge the noise, acknowledge the positivity, be excited about it because there’s… In my opinion, 32 coaches stand in front of their teams every year, talk about winning a championship and then realistically there are maybe six or eight teams that have an actual chance to do it, and I do think we are one of those teams,” Saleh said.
“I think it was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard this off-season, considering the franchise he represents has only been in the playoffs 13 times since the Super Bowl in 1968, the franchise he represents hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2010, so it’s not like he’s working in a culture that understands championships,” former NFL GM Mike Lombardi said on VSIN. “He has won two AFC East games in two years. All this could change, but to me, he’s getting himself ahead of his skis.”
Saleh was asked again this week about Super Bowl talk, because Aaron Rodgers was joking around at a Taylor Swift concert when confetti was falling. He was caught on a cell phone saying, “The Jets won the Super Bowl.” The NFL fills the stadiums with confetti while teams celebrate a Super Bowl win on the field.
“You have long term goals,” Saleh said on Tuesday. “I think he’s the type that has the discipline to bring it back to the moment, though. The reality is, yeah, we all want to win a world championship. You guys all want to be the best in your craft.”
That last sentence was a nice thing for him to say to reporters, but it’s not accurate with some in the room. Still waiting for a question on Brandon Echols’ car accident that severely injured another man and led to a one-game suspension or about Quinnen Williams’ run defense. I could go on.
“So, we have long term goals, but what are you doing in the interim? What are you doing today to prepare you or to get you moving towards your long-term goals? He’s one of those guys that has that discipline, he understands that ‘Yes, this is what I want, but this is what I need to do today.’ If you have that and you can keep that in perspective, I think you’re fine being able to drift off every once in a while,” Saleh says.
With the talk, Rodgers isn’t the one you have to worry about. He can handle expectations and also staying in the moment. He’s been in so many big games over the years.
But sometimes young players can’t, especially ones who haven’t been part of a winning team in the NFL.
It’s just like older players can deal with hype better than young players. You know what quote is coming . . .
“Don’t put him in Canton just yet fellas,” Bill Parcells would often say when asked about a young player who flashed.
“Every team wants to win a championship,” Saleh said. “Every team is expecting to win a championship. That is in the walls and you talk about that, you acknowledge that. Yeah, of course every team wants to win a championship, but you have to have the discipline to bring it back. That’s where messaging comes in and all that.”
Yes, messaging is huge.
So that is why it’s perhaps important to avoid talking about the Super Bowl or even the playoffs, and just focus on the next lift in the weight room and the next film study session, and make that the best one you’ve ever done. Process thinking.
June 8, 2023
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