Robert Saleh continues to prove he isn't an NFL coach in latest national TV embarrassment

The Jets are blown out (again) on national television in their latest loss. Plus, how keeping Robert Saleh is only delaying the inevitable.

Dec 29, 2023

The Jets put forth another disgraceful effort as they were blown out by the Browns, 37-20 on national television (box)
New York finishes the season with a 1-5 record in nationally televised games
QB Trevor Siemian went 32/45 (71.1 percent) for 261 yards, one touchdown and a pick-six in a losing effort
RB Breece Hall had another productive game, rushing for 84 yards on 13 attempts and catching nine passes for 42 yards and a touchdown
The Jets defense had their worst performance of the entire season, as they allowed 428 total yards and 37 points to the Browns
Former Jets QB Joe Flacco completely dismantled his old team, going 19/29 with 309 yards, three touchdowns and a pick-six against them
Flacco becomes the first quarterback to pass for over 300 yards in a game against the Jets in 34 games
Prior to Sunday afternoon’s game against the Commanders, Jets owner Woody Johnson confirmed that Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh’s jobs were safe for next season

Game Balls 🏈

OFFENSE

🏈 Breece Hall: There weren’t a ton of fireworks on offense in this one, but Breece Hall left his mark yet again. For the second straight week, Hall was the most dynamic weapon for the Jets both on the ground and in the air. Utilizing Hall as a pass-catcher will be essential next season as the Jets appear to have unlocked something in that regard late in this season.

DEFENSE

🏈 Jermaine Johnson: Truly the only player on defense this week that remotely deserves a game ball. As a whole, New York’s defense was absolutely abysmal on Thursday night but as always Johnson really did shine as one of the only bright spots. On the night, Johnson tallied one tackle, one pass defended and an interception (the first of his career) returned for a touchdown.

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The Jets are delaying the inevitable with Robert Saleh ✍️

As long as Robert Saleh is their head coach, the New York Jets are in a lot of trouble.

After yet another game where this football team looked completely clueless and unprepared to play football, allowing 27 points and 296 passing yards in the first half to [checks notes] Joe Flacco on an overall lost night. One of many lost nights for the Jets in a year full of disappointment and mishaps.

Frankly, I’m tired of injuries being an excuse for the Jets disaster of a 2023-24 season. Just look at last night. The Browns have had just as bad, if not worse, injury luck than the Jets have. They lost their starting quarterback in Deshaun Watson (who wasn’t even playing well when he was healthy), they lost their star running back in Nick Chubb, they were without number one receiver Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore exited with a head injury in the second quarter. Yet that team was up 34-10 in the first half and is now 10-5 and headed to the postseason. The Jets, on the other hand, are 6-10 and comfortable making excuses and giving everyone a mulligan for another horrific season.

The Jets have now gone 13 consecutive years without making the postseason – the longest active streak in American professional sports – and yet everyone’s jobs are safe. Prior to their Christmas Eve game against the Commanders, off the heels of an embarrassing 30-0 division loss to the Dolphins, Jets owner Woody Johnson felt that it was a good time to let everyone know that the jobs of Joe Douglas, Robert Saleh and probably a lot of their other coaches (hello, Nathaniel Hackett) were safe.

Yet again this is an owner and a franchise that holds no one accountable and oh boy, does it show. It wasn’t difficult to see how many players on the Jets were making business decisions on Thursday night and not remotely giving it their all. The tackling effort was horrible, the play calls and schemes by the coaches didn’t make much sense whatsoever, and the team was yet again an undisciplined mess.

Saleh made his own obvious mistakes, as well, just to make it clear how out of his depth he is. After punting on a 4th & 2 in the second quarter down by 20 points, Saleh had to burn a timeout on the opening drive of the third quarter. Just a few plays later, Saleh elected to take a delay of game rather than burning his second timeout when the offense was in field goal range. The ensuing attempt wound up being blocked because, well, of course it was.

Far too many times during his tenure has a Robert Saleh-led team looked completely lost and with no effort, in large part because of him. Whether it’s his inability to cultivate a proper game plan with his coordinators or his outrageous lack of holding players accountable, this team embodies his personality in the way that they play – lackadaisical and ready to pass the blame. What happened to the guy in San Francisco that was always so fired up on the sidelines and getting players gassed up to run through walls? With the Jets he looks like a corpse on the sidelines more often than not and this season, he’s looked like he would rather be anywhere else in the world.

The team will be better with a healthy Aaron Rodgers next year, but this season has clearly exposed how many more issues this franchise has to fix. One of those, I still believe, is this head coach. I fear that one year from today we will be preparing for the inevitable firing of yet another coach that couldn’t hack it, which would only mean that we wasted yet another year.

Next Week’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Jets (6-10) at Patriots (4-11)

Where: Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA

When: Sunday, 1:00 PM EST

Where to Watch: CBS