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Writers all over the internet are speculating that Aaron Rodgers got Robert Saleh fired.
New York Post – “Aaron Rodgers fingerprints are all over Saleh’s firing.”
USA Today Headline – “Aaron Rodgers drama potential reason for ousting.”
None of this can be proven at this point. This is pure conjecture.
Part of this is perhaps widespread media hatred of Rodgers, some related to his vaccine philosophies.
But as far as Rodgers being a driving force in Saleh’s ouster, I’m not buying that.
To me, the impetus for this decision is the owner seeing a very talented roster, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, a favorable schedule, and a team underachieving up to this point. So before this season spiraled out of control, and they wasted a golden opportunity, he decided to change things up.
“This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction,” Woody Johnson said in a statement.
There it is in a nutshell.
Let’s not make this more complicated than it is.
To make this into a palace coup by Rodgers seems like a major reach.
Now Rodgers and the offensive inconsistency, to a degree, is one of the reasons the team has underachieved thus far.
But to be honest with you, even with the offensive struggles, this passing offense looks like “Air Coryell” compared to what we have seen in the last few years. There have been some passes that we haven’t seen a lot of in recent years, like that TD pass to Allen Lazard, a laser into heavy traffic in the end zone against Minnesota. Amazing. The TD pass to Garrett Wilson against New England. Wow.
But these protection issues on offense, with Rodgers getting sacked eight times and hit 26 times the last two games, with the QB suffering knee and ankle injuries over the last two games can’t continue.
And while Saleh wasn’t the offensive coordinator or offensive line coach, he was the boss of the coaching staff, so perhaps, ultimately, the buck stopped with him.
It just doesn’t seem like OC Nathaniel Hackett and O-Line coach Keith Carter are always on the same page in an arranged marriage. These guys never worked together, and it shows.
So, if you were to insert the Rodgers angle into the Saleh firing, this would be a Rodgers factor that contributed to the head coach being replaced – the 40-year-old franchise QB getting beaten up to a degree in the first five games that none of us saw coming behind a line they that has plenty of talent thanks to the draft and free agency.
Rodgers getting the crap beat out of him, especially the last two weeks, was probably a part of the reason the coach was replaced. This is unsustainable. While the knee and ankle injuries suffered the last two games aren’t season-ending, if these hits keep up, they might not be so lucky.
Also, people keep saying in summing up Saleh’s tenure as Jets coach – “The defense was fine, but the offense was a problem.”
This isn’t entirely accurate. While the run defense improved against Minnesota, it was bad last year, and in three of the first four games this year sans New England, a team with an atrocious offensive line.
To me, the Denver game was lost due to the run defense.
So, under Saleh, while the pass defense was pretty good, the run defense was wildly inconsistent, perhaps due to a philosophy that led the team to use a lot of undersized defensive tackles, who can run sideline-to-sideline, but often get engulfed on big runs up the middle.
Rodgers didn’t get Saleh fired. That is BS.
The reason was like a bouillabaisse – it was a few different ingredients.
The bottom line is Woody wanted to try something, perhaps before it was too late, to avoid the Jets wasting a terrific roster, Hall-of-Fame QB, and a manageable schedule.
October 9, 2024
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