The New York Jets have parted ways with Robert Saleh. Peter Klein wonders if now was the right time as he breaks down the big NFL news.
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00:00Alright, so the big news of the day is that Robert Salah has been fired by the New York
00:11Jets following a 2-3 start with the exclamation mark, the cherry on top, a loss against the
00:17Minnesota Vikings in England Sunday morning.
00:21And honestly, I was a little surprised and not totally sure how to feel about it.
00:27Because we were on here yesterday with Walt Grizzley chatting about how I didn't think
00:34Salah was that good.
00:35I didn't think that he was making a difference.
00:37I thought that he had a pretty good roster and was making it a pretty good football team
00:41at its peak.
00:42So I don't think that there is a whole lot there going on.
00:46Also, I have said, and said yesterday, that there was, that there has been a bit of a
00:52copy and paste formula.
00:54And so whenever a coach that is outside of that formula doesn't work, it bums me out.
00:59And so that is where I kind of come down on this one.
01:03And when you look at both sides, I just, I don't think he proved he was a good coach.
01:09That is basically what this all comes down to.
01:11He had a good defense, and he kept it a good defense.
01:14He is 12th in DVOA.
01:16But I just, I don't think that he did anything to elevate the talent on the defensive side
01:22of the football.
01:24Like, this, with this roster, 12th in DVOA, doesn't seem like a mastermind on the defensive
01:30side that you just simply cannot let go.
01:33And then you see the undisciplined penalties that are happening, and you're blaming it
01:38on the cadence, and it's all of these things, and it's just nothing's, nothing's improving.
01:43Nothing is getting better.
01:44And that is where I think a lot of the blame for him lies.
01:50And I think that is where a lot of, if he were to look back with any form of regret
01:55or anything of that nature, I think a lot of it would be based on a lack of improvement,
02:03a lack of growth.
02:04And when you are a coach that is brought in based on being hard-nosed in the vibes, you
02:11kind of have to do really well.
02:12And you have to get the little things right.
02:15And if you're going to be that hard-nosed, defensive-minded coach, the little things
02:18have to be right.
02:19And they just weren't here.
02:20Right?
02:21Like, that's a fact.
02:22They just, they have not been perfect in those areas.
02:25On the other hand, this does seem like a panic move.
02:28I don't think he's been all that good, but I also don't think at 2-3 you needed to freak
02:35out in this way.
02:37I just, I don't think that this has been so off the rails that it, they had no other choice
02:44But to go out and hire a new head coach and make this move, I still don't think it's enough
02:50to fire a guy.
02:51And honestly, if you were going to fire him after a 2-3 start, why didn't you fire him
02:56after last season?
02:57Like, if I get 2-3, like, you'd rather be 3-2.
03:00And we've talked on here before.
03:01It hasn't looked all that impressive.
03:03And again, I don't see where it's not his fault.
03:07Like, I see where there's blame to go for others, for sure.
03:13But I don't see what he has done to elevate it.
03:15And so, in this last defense here, I don't want to be you guys to, like, clip this or
03:19whatever and just be like, oh, well, this guy thinks that Robert Salah did a good job.
03:23Because overall, I don't think he did.
03:25It's a failing grade more than a passing grade, I think, for Salah with the Jets.
03:29But at 2-3, with still, like, figuring some things out and trying to get everything on
03:36track and all of those things, if you were going to fire him now, why didn't you fire
03:41him in the offseason?
03:42When you very plainly could have.
03:44Like, last season didn't go all that great.
03:46I know you can explain it away as, well, the quarterback, whatever, but you had an out.
03:50You could have fired him.
03:51You have Wrabel out there, you have Belichick out there.
03:54Why not do this now?
03:57Or why do this now?
03:58Why not do this at the beginning of the year?
04:01And so that's why, like, you see the picture of Belichick in a Jets hoodie, and it's like,
04:06oh, could this be happening soon?
04:08Bill Belichick is not joining something in the middle of the season.
04:11I don't think anyway.
04:12I think that he is going to wait until he has a full grasp of a full season, and has
04:18an opportunity to help control things in the offseason, and help bring in his own talent
04:24and all of those things.
04:25So I think the Belichick stuff just isn't, I don't think it would make sense right now.
04:28Same thing with Wrabel, right?
04:29Like, those are not coaches that you bring in midseason, I don't think.
04:32And I get the Jets have high expectations this year, but I think when you are bringing
04:36in a Bill Belichick or a Mike Wrabel, that is a culture changer.
04:40And you don't do that, I don't think, in the middle of the season.
04:43And I don't think Belichick would allow for his hands to be on something that he didn't
04:47have a whole lot of control of, in terms of roster and all of that.
04:51I think the big thing that everyone is having some issues with is, A, like, Robert Salah
04:57seems like a fairly likable human being, right?
04:59Like, he just, he seems like a guy who I would like to have coaching my football team.
05:03Yeah, the Raiders have one of these right now, in the Vibes defensive coach thing, and
05:08it's going great.
05:09But he just, he seems like a guy who you would want around.
05:11And so people kind of fall for that, right?
05:13And I'm not saying, like, get tricked for it.
05:15I'm saying in like a, huh, people fall for that.
05:18Hey, Toxic, how's it going?
05:19And so you get kind of sucked into that a little bit.
05:23And also, their quarterback is really easy to dislike.
05:28And so that makes things pretty easy to just be like, eh, you know what, no, not gonna,
05:33don't, not gonna, not gonna approve of this.
05:35Because it does feel like an Aaron Rodgers thing, right?
05:38Like, there was obviously some discomfort there between these two guys.
05:43And the other part of it is, I don't think Salah is only to blame.
05:48Because if you were looking at kind of divvying up the blame pie for this football team, most
05:54of it goes, I think, to the offense.
05:56They're 12th in DVOA on defense, 23rd on the offensive side of the football.
06:01And so I do think that there is a lot that needs to be looked at on that side of things.
06:07And there needs to be, I think, a big adjustment.
06:09But again, when you're dealing with Aaron Rodgers, and all that comes with that, I don't
06:14think you can make that change and do a deep philosophical shift on the offensive side
06:19of the football midseason.
06:20He just wouldn't go for it.
06:21And quite frankly, you'd be creating more problems than you'd be solving.
06:24And yes, that is a problem.
06:27But I think if the Jets wanted to solve this right now, this was kind of the move that
06:32they had to make.
06:33Again, I don't think Salah did anything that would keep you from firing him.
06:36But I don't think he did anything that would make you fire him either.
06:39So it's a weird spot, for sure.
06:41But again, it does feel like it is the Aaron Rodgers show out there in New York, and this
06:47isn't going to change that.
06:48And now, I do think that it kind of takes away one layer of protection for Aaron Rodgers.
06:54Because a bit of this, you could be like, okay, yeah, it's a coach who doesn't really
06:57know what he's doing, maybe isn't all that good to begin with, and maybe you can't really
07:02blame it on Rodgers.
07:04But now that's gone.
07:05And I get you are not bringing in Bill Belichick tomorrow.
07:08And look, maybe they bring him in tomorrow, and I could be wrong.
07:10But I just, I don't think that's the way it would go.
07:12But I do think that there is a, there is a lot of blame that I think goes to Rodgers.
07:21I've seen some people pointing to the roster construction.
07:23I'm still not there.
07:24I don't think you can go in five weeks from, hey, look, this team is only a quarterback
07:29away, guys.
07:30Look at all the talent they have.
07:31Look at, offensively, defensively, look at all these great, talented players they have.
07:35And then five weeks in, be like, ah, what, it's not the coach's fault, they got no talent
07:38out there.
07:39Like that, I think we're over-exaggerating a little bit to try to put more of the blame
07:42away from Robert Salah today than there needs to.
07:46This is a good roster.
07:47I do think it is a fairly well-constructed football team.
07:50But it was on Aaron Rodgers to elevate this group, and he simply hasn't.
07:56And maybe you can blame the Jets for entrusting a 40-year-old quarterback coming off of his
08:01leg exploding, that that is going to be the guy who is going to elevate you, but this
08:05is on Aaron Rodgers now.
08:07This offense is basically in the same spot that they were last season, with one of the
08:12worst quarterbacking situations in the league.
08:15And currently, he has this group at, again, 23rd in offensive DVOA, simply not good enough
08:23if they are going to make any kind of noise here in the AFC and in the NFL.
08:29And so now, all the pressure is on.
08:31There is no more safety blanket for Aaron Rodgers, although there shouldn't be any
08:35more safety blanket for Aaron Rodgers, although there probably will be.
08:39But look, like, Miami and New England suck.
08:42And we'll see.
08:43Like, Tua sounds like he's going to be coming back.
08:45Buffalo is coming back down to earth.
08:47I still think there's a pretty good football team there, but not best in the league like
08:50it looked in the first three weeks of the season.
08:53There is a lot that is right there for this team to be able to go out and make the most
08:59of it.
09:00So now they have to.
09:01And I don't know if this new coach, the interim cat who they brought in, is the guy to lead
09:06the charge.
09:07This honestly feels like a move that would kind of demoralize more than it would motivate.
09:13And that is a little bit rough, because now, like, coming into the season, one of the big
09:17things around the Jets was they were projected to have the fourth easiest schedule in the
09:21league.
09:22Well, they kind of played the part of the schedule that was supposed to help that the
09:24most, and they came out of it two and three, which I suppose is a bit of a knock to their
09:28two and three.
09:29Why would you fire him now?
09:30And also, if you do think that this guy is a bit of the problem, you kind of got to do
09:34it right now, because they have two gigantic games coming up, and really three of their
09:39next four are huge and are going to dictate the season for the New York Jets.
09:43They have back-to-back primetime games coming up against Buffalo and Pittsburgh, then an
09:47easier one against the Patriots, followed by a game against Houston, who look like they
09:52are at least figuring a couple of things out.
09:54So those, three of those four games are the, if you want to prove to us how good you are,
10:00now is the time.
10:01There is a very real world where they're like, okay, we got this, here we go, now they're
10:05back on track.
10:06There is also a world where they lose three of four, and all of a sudden, they are, what
10:11would that be, three and seven, and it has just been a completely unmitigated disaster.
10:16And then after that, you have Arizona, Indy, Seattle, then you close out at Miami, at Jacksonville,
10:22home Rams, at Buffalo, and home Dolphins.
10:25It is not the toughest schedule in the world, but it is a whole lot of 50-50 for this Jets
10:30team.
10:31And so now is the time where they get to decide what type of a football team they are.
10:37I don't have a lot of confidence.
10:39I didn't have a lot of confidence coming into the season, and I still don't now.
10:42I think that it is a bit of a disaster out with the New York Jets right now.
10:47So, that is the story from one of the, I was going to say one of the marquee teams, that's
10:53not true.
10:54It's weird to have New York and it not be a New York team, or a marquee team, but one
10:58of the bigger market teams in the league anyway, with the New York Jets.