Content available exclusively for subscribers
Somebody made the following statement on Wednesday:
“Leader of men.”
This came from the Jets Twitter account about Robert Saleh, and with this message, they showed a few pictures of him being fired up.
Yes, his job is “leader of men.”
Obviously, that is the job of an NFL coach.
Is he a good leader of men?
He seems to be, but the Jets record this past year was 4-13.
As Bill Parcells always said, “You are what your record says it is.”
So obviously he needs to do a better job next year, just like Joe Douglas. This is a results-based business. There are no “buts.”
“It’s like I said, at the end of the day, it’s about winning, period. Winning four games in this league is not good enough,” Saleh said after the Jets Week 18 loss in Buffalo.
There are no caveats or disclaimers. This is a bottom-line business.
So is he a “leader of men?” He seems to be, but the results need to be better moving forward.
You can show fiery pictures of somebody pumping their fist, but there is more to leadership than that, and Saleh knows that.
The Jets came out of a bye-week this year in Week 6 and lost to New England 54-13 in Week 7.
The leadership clearly could have been better during the bye-week. The bye-week is a great time to fix problems because you have two weeks in the lab, but the Jets came out with one of the poorest performances of the season.
Look, I do think Saleh can be a very good coach, but he has a lot of work to do going from year one to year two.
They have a lot of things to clean up.
And I think he learned a ton during his first year on the job. That first year, you get hit with a lot of curveballs, no matter how much you prepare to be a head coach. He learned a lot of lessons this season that will benefit him moving forward.
He’s a very smart man, a deep thinker, and he will make some requisite changes moving forward, like tweaking his defensive scheme to a degree with coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. That Pete Carroll-based scheme, which is a tad simplistic, can be too easy for erudite quarterbacks to figure out.
He also needs, along with Douglas, to add defenders loaded with instincts. I’m not going to name names, but there were some guys running around out there, playing hard no doubt, but too often, not smart.
Speaking of playing hard, the team did that all season, and that is a tribute to the coach. He had a fired-up team, playing very hard. That was never an issue. That part of his leadership ability isn’t in doubt. Guys love playing for him and would run through a proverbial “brick wall” for him.
But there is more to great leadership than that, and Saleh knows that, like better X’s and O’s and situational football preparation. Too many defensive players were biting too easy on play-fakes leading to big plays. This needs to improve. Maybe loading up on more instinctive defenders this off-season in free agency and the draft will help.
So is Saleh a “leader of men?” I think so, but all we can go on right now is the record which was 4-13, which needs to improve significantly.
I’m just not sure about posting “leader of men” a few weeks removed from a 4-13 season, but there are a lot of things about social media I don’t get.
January 20, 2021
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Friday.
