The Jets have a unique way of pushing their fan base further and further into Jokerfication. The past ten years of Jets football has been every bit as bad as the team’s sometimes unfair reputation portrays. The average fan knows the hits like the Butt Fumble or the “obviously the Jets know something we don’t” draft video, but real ones know the deep cuts.
There’s Muhammad Wilkerson’s birthday cake still waiting to be received in Florham Park to this day, Anthony Barr actually becoming ill at the thought of signing with the Jets, and CJ Mosley enjoying some half-price apps this fall. The never ending search for Dimitri Patterson. Swollen jaws, uncouth acts in a target parking lot, and forgetting which is the right side of the road in the Lincoln Tunnel.
Then there’s the crime against humanity committed in round two of the 2016 draft and it being a justification for a year later passing on two quarterbacks who are now top five at the position and only 25 years old. Even some of the most exciting recent moments as a fan – landing Sam Darnold, the Bills drafting Josh Allen, and a tanking season that was absolutely going to land a generational quarterback talent – have resulted in crushing disappointments.
Thus when the Jets landed an interview with Robert Saleh it was a pleasant surprise based on the “no man’s land” position it seemed the team was in based on missing out on Trevor Lawrence and the number of quality head coaching jobs available. While hoping for the best, Jets fans’ minds are conditioned to think of all the possible ways the Jets can ruin a good opportunity and nerves struck at the idea of Joe Douglas forgoing the interview process to bring in his former Philadelphia colleague and Punchable Face Hall of Fame member Doug Pederson.
And indeed it seemed from the outside that the Jets did make a mess of things again, allowing Saleh to leave his interview to be wined and dined by a Philadelphia contingent in Miami. But in a sign that maybe Jets fans do deserve nice things once and a while, and a signal of intent from Joe Douglas that the Jets may finally know what they’re doing, the Jets ended up choosing Saleh from a shortlist of candidates and he was the first head coaching candidate off the market.
After firing Adam Gase the Jets could have promoted Eric Allen and it would have still been an upgrade at head coach, but Saleh brings legitimate excitement as the most complete candidate the Jets have hired in recent memory. More than simply the best candidate available, Saleh feels like the culmination of learning from a decade plus of hiring mistakes. Although the results were mostly embarrassing, the recent history of Jets coaching and management hires had some good ideas behind them in theory. Saleh profiles as a greatest hits of these ideas.
His exuberance and “all gas, no brakes” mantra is pure “play like a Jet” Rex Ryan. Saleh, like Todd Bowles, had on paper a strong coaching resume and made his mark coaching a top defensive unit and being able to creatively coach around injury issues. Gase was the misguided answer to the long sought after “young bright offensive mind.” The Jets ownership seeking an offensive minded coach who “is coaching to where football is going” was sensible, Christopher Johnson just happened to laughably misdiagnose the answer to who that should be.
Ryan’s downfall came in his lack of discipline, inability to build an offensive staff, defensive coordinator syndrome and shooting himself in the foot with personnel power. Bowles like Rex struggled with offensive staff building and was too close to the defensive side of the ball to see a bigger picture.
A common thread with recent head coaching hires is the inability to forgo control over the side of the ball the coach’s expertise comes in favor of being a CEO type over the entire operation. Rex Ryan, Todd Bowles and Adam Gase all either called plays or entrusted coordinator responsibilities to “right hand man” types they were close with. Saleh has already renounced play calling duties and his defensive coordinator choice, Jeff Ulbrich, is a scheme fit without being too close to Saleh. Saleh and Ulbrich have just one year of overlap on the same staff in Seattle over ten years ago. Instead Saleh is using his San Francisco coaching relationships to carry over the “bright offensive mind” Mike LaFleur, establishing clear visions for how the new look Jets will line up on both sides of the ball.
On the surface it seems obvious that when hiring a new head coach the decision should be made based on who the best candidate for the job is. In the past the Jets have complicated this by trying to overcompensate for the failures of the previous head coaches in their hires. Rex Ryan was supposed to energize a team and fan base as a foil to Eric Mangini’s guarded, Belichickian approach. Bowles was the Parcells disciple with the stoic, no nonsense demeanor that would fix the laughing stock the Jets had become in the late Rex years. Gase was the “offensive genius” to guide Sam Darnold’s future when four years, three offensive coordinators and no playoff appearances wasn’t going to do from Todd Bowles.
Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that Gase’s tenure was such a disaster there wasn’t one single thing to overcompensate for in the next hire. Saleh earning a head coaching spot was not for one specific reason and more about the belief that Saleh is tailor made for the opportunity due to his clearly defined schematic vision on both sides of the ball, the immense respect he commands from players and coaches alike, his ideas for building team culture, and his innate leadership qualities.
It is generally unpredictable how hiring a first time head coach is going to turn out. This isn’t the first time the Jets hired a strong candidate only to be looking for a new head coach a few years later (Todd Bowles, Rex Ryan, Eric Mangini). But it’s undeniable the Jets have handled this hire immensely better than the last several. There were no search firms involved. Ownership wasn’t duped into hiring the friends of a former executive who hadn’t even been in the league for ten years.
The head coach wasn’t hired by a lame duck general manager calling shots on who was going to be on the staff. For as big of a laughing stock the Jets have been, ownership found a way to hire arguably the best general manager and head coach candidates that were available. We’re in that rare honeymoon period of excitement and possibility. For once there’s nothing to laugh at – the Jets may have the start of something special.
