The Jets came into the 2024 season with high expectations, in large part due to the return of Aaron Rodgers following a season-ending Achilles injury a year earlier.
It didn’t take long for expectations to meet reality.
With a 2-3 start after five games, many have called for Jets coach Robert Saleh to be fired following the Jets’ 23-17 loss to the Vikings in London.
“It’s early,” Saleh said on Sunday when asked about his message to Jets fans. “We’re five games in. Obviously, we’d like it to be a lot better, but it’s early, and we’ve got a long way to go.”
This is not what Jets fans want to hear. Many of them have been tortured for decades after seeing disappointing team after disappointing team. But Saleh is correct. He should be given the entire season to see if the Jets can, in fact, turn the season around.
Let’s be clear: Saleh is under a lot of pressure to make the playoffs in 2024 and end the longest postseason drought (2010) in North American sports. This is his fourth season as Jets coach, and Saleh has a record of 20-36 during that time.
Saleh deserves some blame for the Jets’ 2-3 start and their ineptitude during his tenure. Gang Green has been consistently undisciplined since Saleh became the coach in 2021, as shown by the 13 penalties it committed during the 10-9 loss against the Broncos and the fact that the Jets are seventh in penalties during five games.
His clock management has been puzzling at times and his handling of the quarterback situation before Rodgers was acquired certainly deserves some criticism. The Jets have also been notorious slow starters under Saleh and have, at times, lost games they were supposed to win.
However, firing Saleh at this stage wouldn’t benefit the Jets organization or the players.
The main problem with the Jets during Saleh’s tenure has been and continues to be fielding an offense that appears incapable of winning games consistently. Gang Green ranks 27th in yards (286.6) and 22nd in scoring (18.6) per game. Rodgers also hasn’t played up to expectations. He has thrown 1,093 yards, seven touchdowns, four interceptions and has a total quarterback rating of (49.1). These are all career worst for Rodgers after five games.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, of course. Rodgers was to solidify an offense that was struggling with Zach Wilson under center. We may never know if the Jets might have gotten the four-time NFL MVP version of Rodgers if not for his Achilles tear four plays into his Jets debut last year, but this version of the the 40-year-old quarterback differs starkly from the player the Jets expected when they traded for him in March of 2023.
With Rodgers back, the Jets have scored as many points in 2024 as they did in 2023 (93) after five games. It also doesn’t help Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s playcalling has been predictable and felt like it resembles concepts seen during the 1980s or 90s.
Going from Saleh to an interim coach, such as Hackett or Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, wouldn’t necessarily improve that. If anything, firing Saleh could bring more disorder and chaos to an organization that has seen plenty in the last two decades.
Saleh’s specialty is the Jets’ defense, which has been one of the better units in the NFL since their embarrassing loss to the 49ers on Monday Night Football in Week 1. Defensively, the Jets were good enough to beat both the Broncos and the Vikings, but the offense needed to hold up their end of the bargain.
For starters, the Jets are having trouble protecting Rodgers after he was hit 25 times during the previous two games. Rodgers was also sacked three times and hit 11 times in the six-point loss to the Vikings.
Running the football has also been an issue with the Jets. They rank dead last in rushing yards per game (80.4) and 30th in yards per carry (3.6).
The defensive players are still backing Saleh in the locker room. But Jets linebacker Quincy Williams was frustrated following another loss in which the defense did their job but the offense did not.
“I’m going to be honest, people get tired of hearing the same s—,” Williams said after Sunday’s game. People gotta start taking accountability from the top to the bottom, that’s the main thing.
“People get tired of hearing the same thing every week. I’m tired of saying the same thing every week.”
Fans are getting tired of the excuses for why the offense is playing below expectations. During training camp, the Jets offense used a lot of motion and appeared ready for the season by the end of August. It seems that was not the case.
But this was always going to be a process, especially with Rodgers, who is 40 years old and coming off a significant injury. Jets fans have to hope the team will continue to gel as the season progresses.
If it doesn’t, the Jets will likely undergo wholesale changes in the offseason anyway. But rarely does an in-season coaching change transform a team from pretenders to contenders.
“I still have a lot of confidence in this team,” Rodgers said. “I think it’s a team that’s going to make a run, and whether that run starts next week, the following week, or whenever it might be.
“I’m confident in our guys and I’m confident in the leadership and confident we’ll get this thing straightened out.”
