The New York Jets REALLY know how to get it wrong, don’t they? If there were a Super Bowl for losers, the Jets would be a dynasty of legendary proportions. On October 8, the Jets decided to fire Robert Saleh after saddling him with six different starting quarterbacks and one of the worst offensive coordinators in the league. Let’s all be real—Nathaniel Hackett was a punchline, and Super Bowl-winning coaches like Sean Payton very openly expressed disdain for his incompetence. Yet the Jets decided to hire Hackett, just to appease their 40-year-old quarterback experiment. Aaron Rodgers’ affection for Hackett is well documented and was seemingly a prerequisite for his arrival in New York.
The fact that Rodgers was calling the shots while general manager Joe Douglas was being paid to do so is another example of the top-down incompetence in that organization. The only thing they’ve done right in the last 10 years was hiring Robert Saleh, who changed the culture of losing almost overnight by installing an explosive and aggressive defense. Saleh brought scheme and swagger to a gang of green guys who were used to getting hit in the mouth. However, Saleh never saw a viable offense paired with his top-five defense.
The funny thing is that prior to Rodgers’ arrival in New York, the Jets averaged 18.6 points per game. They are scoring the exact same points with Rodgers in his five games this season, yet somehow Saleh gets the blame. How is it that the unit Saleh is synonymous with is elite, while the unit spearheaded by Rodgers and Hackett is impotent, but Saleh gets fired?
Poor decision-making and perpetual laziness from the front office have shown up on the field in New York for years. Joe Douglas fell for the okie-doke and attempted to buy a championship. He tried to pass the buck—which should surely stop with him—onto three other people whom he is responsible for hiring. How long are fans in New York going to settle for this kind of useless leadership? How many regime changes are they going to suffer through? How many more first-round picks will be wasted ruining another young quarterback prospect? Does anyone really understand the plan in New York? Do they even have a plan?
Firing the only head coach who has been able to establish an identity, albeit on just one side of the ball, since Rex Ryan brought his aggressive defense to New York and recorded four playoff wins, is just not smart. The football world thought the Jets were one player away, and that Aaron Rodgers was that player. They were all wrong. The 40-year-old shell of Rodgers isn’t getting it done, yet the Jets organization has surrendered everything to Rodgers because it has no answers of its own. Firing Saleh is nothing more than a double down on Rodgers, and the losses will be historic.
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