The story of the New York Jets 2024 season is still to be written, but the final chapter seems to already be etched in stone. Aaron Rodgers has been cast, deservingly, as the hero and Robert Saleh has been cast, unfairly, as the villain.
12 days ago, Rodgers got the lion’s share of the credit for the Jets 24-3 win over the New England Patriots. In the last 36 hours Saleh got the lion’s share of the blame for the Jets disappointing 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Let’s get this out of the way. Saleh absolutely should be coaching for his job this season. He’s had bad breaks the last couple of years, but now that he has a competent QB, a relatively healthy OL, and talent at the skills positions he needs to have a winning season and make the playoffs. If it doesn’t happen this year, it doesn’t mean he’ll never be a good head coach, it just means that he’ll have to do it somewhere else. It’s the NFL, you only get so much time and 4 years is enough.
That said, you can’t blame every poor performance and every bad play on the head coach. That’s just a lazy narrative that doesn’t consider factors like bad weather or good players making bad decisions. On Sunday at MetLife the Jets had 13 penalties against the Broncos including 6 pre-snap and 1 post-whistle. Unacceptable by any standards but there’s plenty of blame to spread around.
For instance, Will McDonald may only be in his second year, but we’re pretty sure he wouldn’t have been a #1 draft pick if he didn’t understand that in the rules of football you need to line up onside. He broke that rule twice on Sunday. On the flip side, Tyron Smith is in his 14th season and by most accounts is headed to the Hall of Fame once he retires, yet he also had two penalties including a false start.
Speaking of false starts, Breece Hall had two of his own, part of a forgettable day for the 3rd year player who came into the season ranked as the 2nd best running back behind Christian McCaffery. Does anyone really believe that Hall needed Saleh to take him aside before the game and say, “Breece, as a reminder, don’t move until the ball is snapped”.
Irv Charles took a penalty by popping Marvin Mims, Jr. before he caught a punt and 8-year veteran Allen Lazard, who has logged more time with QB Aaron Rodgers and OC Nathaniel Hackett than anyone in the Jets locker room, had 3 penalties including a including a pre-snap illegal motion and post-whistle unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Jets had a bad day. Losing at home to Denver, no matter how much better the Broncos defense is than originally projected, is unacceptable for a team that fancies itself as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
But placing all the blame on Saleh is lazy. Hall had his worst game as a pro, Garrett Wilson wasn’t much better, the offensive line regressed from the Patriots game and Rodgers himself said “the weather sucked, but so did some of my throws”.
The script has not yet been written on the Jets season; they are 2-2 with 13 games left to turn this into anything from a glorious redemption story to a sad drama. We suggest sitting back and watching it play out without any pre-conceived endings. There will be plenty of time to pass out the praise or blame once the credits roll.
