There was never a clearer illustration of two rival football operations going in opposite directions than on Sunday when the Jets and Dolphins took the field. New York was hoping to keep its faint playoff hopes alive, and pray for a potential Aaron Rodgers Christmas Eve comeback.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t have mattered who was under center for Gang Green, because they got downright embarrassed in Miami. That might be the sports-related understatement of the 21st century.
Head coach Robert Saleh didn’t have his guys ready at all in a must-win situation. Rodgers’ hand-picked offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett must’ve realized after Zach Wilson’s breakout performance last week, “Oh yeah, f*ck! I’m Nathaniel Hackett!” because the offense was comically inept once again.
Nothing about that showing, regardless of Rodgers’ individual wishes, should permit the Jets to retain their current coaching staff. It’s just too pathetic, disorganized and downright awful.
Look at what the Jets’ primary ESPN reporter was saying by halftime.
Look at how f*cking stupid and lacking in communication skills the Jets were about their latest benching of Zach Wilson.
Umm…what? Not a concussion but a head injury? What are we even talking about here? What is this?
Did you catch all that, though, from Rich Cimini? Imagine not targeting Garrett Wilson one time in the first half. Why you wouldn’t just chuck it 40 yards into triple coverage and pray for pass interference is beyond me. Cimini didn’t chill postgame, either!
Oh, and then there’s this…
I would go full “Hahahahahahaha” mode on this if it weren’t so depressing and if poor Zach Wilson wasn’t dealing with a concussion. Let’s have some perspective and empathy for the young man here. OK moving on. Insert Rodgers reaction to sum up my feelings:
You have to understand something. Well, several things. The Jets’ o-line is banged up to the point where they can’t block anyone. I mean you could trot out a fringe top-25 college defensive front and they’d probably have some success against that unit. AND YET. If you look at the linemen in charge of protecting Tua Tagovailoa and paving the way for the Fins’ dynamic offense, the only starter left standing by Sunday’s end was left tackle Terron Armstead, who’s been hurt basically all year as is.
There was lots of talk about Tyreek Hill being the NFL MVP heading into this week. An ankle injury prevented him from playing. AND. The Dolphins were without two of the league’s best defensive backs in Xavien Howard and Jevon Holland. Look at this laundry list of key personnel missing:
Were the Jets worried about keeping Sauce Gardner’s pristine coverage numbers intact? Or were Saleh and Co. just voluntarily moronic for letting DJ Reed try to run with Jaylen Waddle for the vast majority of the afternoon? My man DJ was getting COOKED.
…And DJ is a great player. But you’d think the Jets’ elite defensive front, led by Quinnen Williams, would be able to get home more often and impact the game against a group of backups. It wasn’t to be!
How bad was the game plan that Saleh came up with…? He might’ve been apologizing to his players in real time. The fact that I can’t 100% determine — and you can’t either, if you’re honest — whether this is a joke from Greeny tells you all you need to know.
This all started occurring to me very recently and crystalized today. Robert Saleh has been shafted with bad QB play during his tenure, no doubt.
But then he caved to Rodgers’ demands about Hackett, has failed to surround himself with good assistants to coach up the offense — particularly the o-line, woof! — and is putting an unacceptable product on the field.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to coach the Jets’ defensive personnel. They’re loaded. Somebody else can certainly come in and do that. Rodgers cannot let his loyalty to Hackett ruin the twilight of his NFL career. This team needs an innovative offensive mind to come aboard who can bring in a competent o-line coach and even a subpar defensive coordinator to bring this franchise back to respectability.
By the end of the game, when the Jets still couldn’t move the ball in any meaningful way, Wilson’s replacement, Trevor Siemian, was simply chucking and ducking to his new go-to receiver, Dolphins defensive back Brandon Jones.
Talk about a flat-out embarrassment. Saleh said as much afterwards.
Don’t take only my word for it that Saleh and Hackett should be on the outs, as if it’s not self-evident. So many folks are beginning to feel this way.
Whatever good graces Saleh was once in have dissipated. He has to be on the hot seat. There’s no way around it. If not, Jets fans might stage a mass boycott. For real this time.
