(Image via sportsaldente.com)
Staff Writer: Aidan Danforth
Email: adanforth@umassd.edu
Some teams’ reputations never seem to change. The New York Jets have fired Head Coach Robert Saleh after starting 2-3. Saleh was hired back in 2021. He turned the Jets defense into a deadly unit while struggling with the offense.
The firing came after an awful performance against the Vikings, where the offense could do nothing until it was too late. Why was Saleh fired only five games into the season, and what does this mean for the Jets future?
Jets owner Woody Johnson revealed why he fired Saleh. It was due to him not meeting the team’s expectations. The losses to the Broncos and Vikings were the final nails in the coffin as the Jets struggled offensively.
Since Saleh’s arrival, New York’s offense has been mediocre to atrocious. Part of it was due to the abundance of lousy quarterback plays and a horrid offensive line. On the other hand, their defense has soared over the past four years.
In 2021, the Jets drafted Zach Wilson, who was supposed to be their franchise savior. Instead, he became one of the biggest busts in NFL history and struggled his first two seasons.
The Jets finished with records of 4-13 and 7-10 during those seasons, which caused them to make a change by trading for Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers was coming off his worst season in 2022 and was looking for a bounceback. New York also added pieces like Dalvin Cook and Allen Lazard to help make them a playoff contender.
In typical Jets fashion, disaster hit when Rodgers tore his Achilles minutes into the 2023 season. With nowhere to go, the Jets turned back to Zach Wilson.
Like the previous two seasons, the team remained the same. 7-10 record with an elite defense and horrific offensive attack.
It was a lost season from the start, so no one blamed the coaching for the bad year. Instead, fans looked to the future and hoped Rodgers would be the key to unlocking the team’s potential.
After a long offseason, the 2024 season was underway, and Jets fans became optimistic about the team’s success. At first, things were up and down. The Jets lost their opener but won two straight against the Titans and Patriots.
The defense remained an incredible unit. The offense led by Rodgers wasn’t incredible but did the job to help them win and keep games close.
However, in their week four game against the Broncos, the offense looked clueless as the team was unable to score one touchdown against a struggling Broncos team. It continued against the Vikings after Rodgers threw three interceptions.
The Jets fired Saleh a few days later. Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will take over as the interim head coach.
Based on the offensive struggles, the firing makes sense. How do you fail with an offense with Aaron Rodgers, Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, and a more robust offensive line?
Something fans forget is it’s not only the coach calling the plays. There’s the offensive coordinator and the players themselves that can be blamed.
Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is known for helping Rodgers win two MVPs during this time with Green Bay. After 2021, Hackett became the head coach of the Broncos and had an awfully laughable campaign.
He didn’t even last an entire season in Denver. He did bounce back when he was hired by the Jets to be their offensive coordinator. Hackett has been calling plays for the Jets since and has had little to no success.
Saleh noticed this and was planning on taking away Hackett’s play-calling duties. As a result, Saleh was fired minutes after announcing this.
This is where many believed that quarterback Aaron Rodgers had some influence in Saleh’s firing.
Rodgers and Hackett have been together since 2019 and have seen great success. 2022 was the lone year Rodgers was without Hackett, and he had one of his worst career years.
Even with his old coordinator by his side, Rodgers did not look like himself in 2024, having trouble escaping the pocket and throwing costly turnovers.
Rodgers and Saleh also had times when they didn’t see eye to eye. And an essential part of winning is having a coach and quarterback that get along.
It’s also important to consolidate Rodgers’s power over an organization. He was able to keep Mike McCarthy in Green Bay for a long time while influencing who the Jets signed when he first joined them.
Shortly after Saleh’s firing, Rodgers said he had no involvement in his firing. Rodgers even declined to have power in the organization and was disgusted by the allegations against him.
The Jets’ struggles are a combination of bad play calling, organization disagreements, and an aging legend who is losing his spark.
New York tried to remove one of those issues by firing their head coach, but will that be enough?
Can interim coach Jeff Ulbrich help rebound the Jets and give them a chance at the postseason, or will the Jets decline?