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Robert Saleh’s honeymoon is over as Jets head coach.
There should be no ifs, ands or buts on this. Your eyes should tell you all you need to know. The standings speak for themselves. The performances don’t lie. This season hasn’t been fun whatsoever.
This season is no different than the last few years, which should be a strike on Saleh and even Jets general manager Joe Douglas. This was on the new administration to change the perception of this team moving forward.
If anything, it’s getting worse. It shouldn’t be that way where it would get worse before it gets better heading to this season.
Sunday’s 54-13 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium reflects the horrible job Saleh has done as Jets head coach.
The rookie head coach had two weeks to prepare against the Patriots, and for the Jets to have this type of result, it should be alarming. No one can blame Jets fans for questioning if the head coach has what it takes to be one. It’s one thing to lose, but it’s another to go out and see them get their butts kicked.
When Saleh promised this Jets team would be all gas and no brake in his introductory press conference, this is not what he and Jets fans had in mind. No one thought effort and preparation would be an issue. Unfortunately, that is the case.
There’s no defending this. This is a team that has not scored in the first quarter so far this year. They have fallen behind 44-0 in all of the six games they played in the first quarter this season. They have been outscored 106-20 in the first half this season.
This is a coaching problem. Plain and simple.
Even the Jets did not play this badly under Adam Gase, who looks better in each passing Jets game. They stunk, but at least the effort wasn’t an issue. Gase’s problem is he didn’t have the players to do well.
Yes, Saleh does not have the players, either, but they shouldn’t be in a position where an NFL team dropped a 58er on them. No one is going to confuse these Patriots with a team that once bidded for a perfect season until they lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl. For Pete’s sake, Sunday was their first home win of the season. Plus, it’s hard for a team to score 58 points in the National Football League. I mean the Jets allowed 50 points for the first time since the 1995 season opener, which the Jets took a 52-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins. It’s hard to be perfect in the red zone as the Patriots went 6-for-6 against the Jets with no resistance.
It was surprising the Patriots did not score 65 against them after having 551 yards of total offense. Belichick should be disappointed in that considering he loves to stick it against Jets owner Woody Johnson.
Saleh’s strength was supposed to be defense. This team rarely plays defense. They can’t tackle. Did anyone see how Patriots running back Damien Harris made it easy in going to the end zone for his two-touchdown performance? Harris’ first touchdown of the game indicated the type of the day it was going to be for the Jets.
Saleh offered no answers to what went wrong in his presser. He certainly had no solutions when he was coaching on the sidelines on Sunday. Being that he is a defensive guy, one would think he would put a stop to the Patriots putting on a chicanery on offense. The Patriots used gadgets, screens and misdirection to fool the Jets defense.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels shouldn’t apologize for what they did if the Jets head coach and his staff can’t do anything about that. It’s not their responsibility to put the brakes on their offense. Any head coach would have done the same thing the Patriots did on Sunday.
It’s hard to be confident about Saleh after Sunday. Maybe he gets better, but that’s a leap of faith from watching this game.
If the Jets finally won in New England for the first time since the 2010 playoffs and ended their 11-game winning streak against the Patriots in the process, it would have meant a sign of progress. It would have meant this head coach has something good going. Instead, the Jets are 4-18 at Gillette Stadium since it opened for business in 2002, and they are 0-12 against them. Instead, this head coach raised more questions than answers.
Oh yes, we haven’t forgotten about Jets quarterback Zach Wilson leaving the game with a right knee injury after being hit by Patriots linebacker Matt Judon. Who knows if he will play next week? The MRI exam results will explain the answer on Monday.
But his injury is the least of the Jets problems.
Coaching is a big problem.
