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A new narrative in the media echo chamber is the Jets season fell apart because they fired Robert Saleh, and things would have been different if they retained him.
Keep in mind, a lot of these people have a strong relationship with him, rarely criticized him when he was coach, and some are still in touch with him.
I’m not buying this.
To me, the problem isn’t that Woody Johnson fired a coach who had an accountability issue, but that he made too many moves simultaneously.
He fired Saleh, demoted Nathaniel Hackett, traded for Davante Adams and pushed for the team to sign Haason Reddick, who really hurt the team by holding out for half the season when he had a signed contract.
To me, if you were going to make a change, and replace the coach, stop at that.
Like the New Orleans Saints did.
The Saints fired Dennis Alen last week, and promoted special team’s coach Darren Rizzi to interim coach. That was it, and they went out and beat the Atlanta Falcons in Rizzi’s first game coaching the team.
Woody did too many things around the same time, and it led to more dysfunction and chaos.
Why did they need Adams?
The Garrett Wilson-Allen Lazard tandem was doing fine.
And while this might shock some people, Aaron Rogers and Adams, even though they are close friends, and played together eight seasons in Green Bay, they have not always been on the same page with the Jets. You have seen that on a few throws, like on the Jets’ second offensive series against Arizona, on third-and-six, when Rodgers threw it wide left of Adams expecting him to be in a different spot, and the Jets had to settle for a field goal. This should have been a completion and a first down.
They were apart for three years, and when you acquire him in-season, without an off-season and summer for truly get back on the same page in the Jets current playbook (which isn’t exactly the same as Green Bay – some things were tweaked), this is what you get.
Demoting Hackett was a big mistake, and I’m not making Hackett into Bill Walsh. You saw that when the Jets had to call three timeouts in the first quarter at New England.
“This team is in disarray. 1:37 left in the first quarter and you are out of timeouts,” said Pats radio analyst Scott Zolak after the third timeout was called in the first quarter.
I’m no special pleader for Hackett who needs to update his playbook, but to ask Todd Downing to run Hackett’s playbook, when Downing had a different playbook in Tennessee, makes no sense.
You are asking a chef to cook somebody else’s recipes, not his own.
And getting Reddick to come back, after showed no loyalty to his new teammates by blowing off half the season, was bad for the locker room.
So the bottom line is Woody created too much chaos with too much change on a team with a losing record in season.
if you wanted to replace Saleh because of the accountability issue, and have Ulbrich champion that cause, that is fine, but there was too much other change to go along with it.
The Saints approach was better.
One change – the head coach.
Too many changes at one time created the Kabuki Theatre.
So this hot new narrative in the media that fired Saleh ruined the season might be a reach.
What ruined the season was too much change around the same time.
Along with a run defense that is awful beyond comprehension. Their scheme in broken and outdated, and they refuse to bench or cut players who make the same mistakes over and over leading to big plays.
When you can’t stop the run, not only does it keep your offense off the field, it demoralizes the entire team, and makes you look like a soft team.
November 13, 2024
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