This season has not started the way lots of Jets fans and football fans would have anticipated for the New York Jets lots of people looked at this season for the Jets as this team better win the Super Bowl. In fact, Head Coach Robert Salah was fired during his 3rd season after having a 2-3 start to the season in a season where it’s Super Bowl or Bust for the Jets. He was fired in October after a 23-17 loss to the Vikings. His tenure has been disappointing overall, with him finishing with an overall record of 20-36. To describe the Saleh experience is hard to say. Hired in 2021 after the Jets’ abysmal season, going 2-14, Jets fans did not have much hope for the future.
Head Coach Robert Saleh was finally going into the season where the expectations were high. He finally has a Quarterback and not just any Quarterback but a 1st ballot Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers who was making a comeback after going down in week 1 last year against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football after just 4 snaps. For Robert Saleh the writing was on the wall for him after coaching 56 games in his head coaching Career and having a 20-36 record he had to get off to a Quick start but that wasn’t the case after the 2-3 start to the season Owner and Chairman Woody Johnson stepped in and made the call to fire Head Coach Robert Saleh Tuesday morning a day after the team got back from london from there game aghast the Vikings where the Jets would lose for the second week in a row.
The defense was ranked 22 in the league and the Jets offense has a case for one of the worst offenses we see, only scoring 23 touchdowns on the year, one of the worst we see since 2000. Saleh was originally a defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, who had just gone to the Superbowl and held one of the best defenses in the league. In that offseason, they drafted the second overall pick, Zack Wilson. He was a very raw prospect out of BYU. To say he lived up to his draft value is just laughable. He wasn’t good his rookie year and halfway through the 2022 season, he was benched for Mike White, a 5th-round draft pick from 2018 who is a career backup.
And the offense still struggled under Wilson and Saleh ranked the 29 best offense according to pro football reference. Even though the offense has not improved the defense slowed to turn into one of the best units in the league. The 2022 draft class was also miles better than Saleh’s first draft drafting 2 times all pro Sauce Gardner who has been one of the best cornerbacks in the league and Garrett Wilson who put up 1000 yards in his first season with Zach Wilson at QB. After the 2022 season, Saleh and the front office knew that they were one great QB away and with limited time to act because their rookie studs were looking to get paid big money. What did the Jets do? They set their sights on Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers the 4 times MVP and Super Bowl champion has been one of the best QBs in NFL history but in recent years the teams that he led have been disappointing. The Packers had one of their worst seasons with Aaron Rodgers at the helm and failed to make the playoffs after going for 4 years straight with Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers is being outspoken about the frustration in Green Bay and requesting a trade to New york. In April, Rodgers was traded to New York for a first-round pick swap between the 13 and 15 overall pick and the Packers also got the 42 overall pick with a 6-rounder. Even after the big trade, the Jets traded or picked up receivers that were close to Rodgers and even replaced the offense coordinator with Nathaniel Hackett a former OC from Green Bay who was just fired by the Broncos from their Head coach spot. They pick up receivers like Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, and Mecole Hardman. All of these guys had down years but with their former history Rodgers surely they could work out. Going into the 2023 season the Jets were supposed to be locked for the playoffs and could make a run in the AFC. Aaron Rodgers was supposed to bounce back after a lackluster season in Green Bay. They were supposed to bring back a little hope to the city of New York. Then they played their first games of the season on Sunday night, prime time against the Buffalo Bills their divisional rival. After 4 plays on offense, Aaron Rodgers snapped his Achilles and he was out for the year.
This automatically took them from a Super Bowl contender to a 1 overall pick nominee. The Jet defense was still one of the best units in the league but with Zach Wilson in the driver’s seat, the best they could do was crash and burn. This is when more and more people were questioning if Saleh should be fired. Sure Saleh could coach a good defense but without any scoring what good is Saleh? People also gave Saleh the benefit of the doubt because the Hall of Fame QB was out for the year and with the worst starting QB in the league in Zack Wilson it’s hard to have a good offense. Even though the Offense was not great, the stars were still there. Garett Wilson had another 1000 yards on the year and running back Breece Hall, bounced back from a torn ACL from the year before.
One major problem they put on the back burner that showed was the Offensive line. They let up 64 sacks, the 4th worst in the league. They finish the year off with a 7-10 record again not making the playoffs. The pressure was back on Saleh to get the right pieces to help this Jets team. On the top of the list of what the Jets needed the most is the offensive line. They drafted rookie Olu Fashanu Tackle from Penn State who was a highly regarded prospect coming out of college. They also got Hall of Fame-bound tackle Tyron Smith, traded tackle Morgan Moses from the Ravens, and veteran guard John Simpson from the Ravens again. They got even more weapons For Rodgers by paying big money for Free agent Mike Williams who has been one of the best jump ball receivers in the league. They also finally let go of Zack Wilson and brought in NFL veteran QB Tyrod Taylor as a backup to Rodgers.
The pressure was on Saleh to finally turn around this team. The Jets played the 49ers in their season opener against Saleh’s old team. This game was disappointing to say the least, ending 32-19. Rodgers did not look like A QB for the future, only throwing for 167 yards for 1 TD and a pick and that’s not even the worst. The 49ers were missing All pro running back Christian McCaffery and let undrafted running back Jordan Mason run for 147 yards. Blame was flying all over the place but it landed on the coaching staff. People were blaming Hackett for calling a boring and predictable offense that Rodgers liked and Saleh got blamed for the offense not clicking and the defense for letting up over 400 yards of offense.
In their second game, they faced the Titans but even in a win the offense was competing with one of the worst offenses in the league and almost lost with the game ending 24-17. The Week 3 game was very promising for the first time in a while beating their rival New England Patriots and snapping the longest active winning streak by one team(They haven’t beat them since 2016). Rodgers looked like his normal self and the defense was looking amazing. One thing that could have been a sign that something bad was coming was after a TD Saleh tried to hug Rodgers in celebration but Rodgers pushed him and walked by. It looked like a sign of their relationship falling apart. After the 2 back to back wins they come home and play the Broncos. The offense was putrid, putting up 9 points in an embarrassing loss to Hackett’s former team and lost 9-10. This was a huge blow to what could have been a monument into midseason where they have to play better teams. People started to point to Aaron Rodgers and Hacektt for the offensive troubles. The defense still played great but that did not excuse any criticism from Saleh. Saleh’s last game was in London versus the Minnesota Vikings who were 4-0. If they can get a win it proves that the Jets were true contenders. The Jet’s defense was on fire holding former Jets QB Sam Darnold to 197 yards and a pick. It’s too bad that the offense didn’t do much again. On 54 attempts he had 244 yards, 2 TD and 3 picks the last one pick was on the game-losing drive to seal the game away.
That was the last game that Robert Saleh would coach because 2 days later on October 8th he would be fired from his head coach spot. Robert Saleh did help the Jets to get out of the hole they were in 2020 but when given an opportunity he could not develop Zack Wilson and when given a good QB and weapons he could win games against any teams over .500. Unfortunately, the fire didn’t help them. They lost to the Bills and lost to the Steelers in the past. After these losses, the defense has only gotten worse and they let up 37 points in their last game, the most since 2022.
One Jets fan explained his feelings about the firing, “I think that the team’s slow start to the season and Saleh’s lack of energy was just bad for the team. You never saw him get on a player for costing them plays and drives.”
Another said, “I think the writing was on the wall for Saleh after a tough start to the season.”
